ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Corporate Manslaughter

Paul Burstow: To ask the Attorney-General how many cases are being investigated with a view to prosecution for offences under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007; how many cases brought under the provisions of the Act have been investigated since the commencement of the Act; and what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to assist future prosecutions under the Act.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold data on the total number of cases under investigation with a view to possible prosecution for offences under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007; such information would be held by the relevant investigating authorities.
	CPS records indicate that the number of cases brought for prosecution by the CPS under the provisions of the Act is four; however, this does not include any cases involving unincorporated partnerships which would be handled by CPS Complex Casework Units (CCU). CCU records do not distinguish between corporate and other types of manslaughter, and such data could not be reasonably obtained locally or nationally other than by reviewing individual case files which would incur a disproportionate cost.
	The CPS encourages early referral from the police, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in order to allow closer partnership working with investigators and to advise on this complex area of law. Early referral will enable advice to be given on investigation strategy, and for the appropriate instruction of experts to assist in making progress in these cases. Since 2011, the CPS has been making efforts to strengthen the process of early advice. The CPS is leading a project to strengthen engagement with the Association of Chief Police Officers HSE, IPCC and others.

Immigration

Priti Patel: To ask the Attorney-General if he will estimate the additional cost of the delivery of those public services for which the Law Officers' Departments are responsible arising from inward migration since 1997.

Oliver Heald: The Law Officers’ Departments do not routinely produce estimates of this nature. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.

Money Lending

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service has made for offences relating to illegal money lending in each year since 2005.

Oliver Heald: The primary enforcement of illegal money lending will be conducted by local authority trading standards officers and illegal money lending teams co-ordinated by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, not the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The data held by the CPS does not therefore represent the total number of prosecutions.
	The records held by the CPS identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in magistrates courts, rather than the number of defendants. Offences of illegal money lending can be charged under section 39(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, engaging in activities that require a licence when not a licensee. Since 2005 the number of these offences prosecuted by the CPS was as follows:
	
		
			 Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 39(1) 
			  Number 
			 2005 2 
			 2006 0 
			 2007 1 
			 2008 1 
			 2009 3 
			 2010 5 
			 2011 20 
			 2012 (to 18 December 2012) 16 
		
	
	No central records of the prosecution outcomes of offences are held by the CPS. To obtain the volume and rate of conviction would involve reviewing individual case files which would incur a disproportionate cost.
	In addition to the above offences, illegal money lending activities may give rise to other charges such as threatening behaviour, assault, blackmail or fraud. No central record of the circumstances of offences is maintained. Such data could not reasonably be obtained locally or nationally other than by reviewing individual case files which would incur a disproportionate cost.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Betting

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she will make a statement on dormant betting accounts and unclaimed winnings.

Hugh Robertson: A report has been submitted by the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for Bath (Mr Foster) into abandoned betting accounts and other unclaimed winnings. The recommendations from this report will only be considered once the Government has delivered its legislative proposals for remote gambling.

Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of staff in her Department have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, within the last three years.

Hugh Robertson: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not hold central data for the number of employees who have gone through equality and diversity training in the last three years. The Department does, however, place the equality and diversity agenda at the heart of how we operate, from the implementation of Our People Strategy, which recognises and develops the talent in all our people, to policy development.
	Since 2008, the Department has also implemented an Equality and Diversity Strategy to provide a holistic framework in which the way the Department operates reflects current legislation and best practice. All employees joining the Department have an induction, which includes DCMS' commitment to the equality agenda and reference to the Equality Act 2010. Individuals are also signposted to online equality and diversity training available through Civil Service Learning as part of their induction.

Football: Sportsgrounds

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which First Division football grounds were in possession of a current safety certificate for designated stadia in the 1988-89 season; and when those certificates were issued.

Hugh Robertson: We do not hold records relating to the issue, amendment or cancellation of safety certificates. While the designation of a sports ground as requiring a safety certificate would have been undertaken by the Home Secretary, who was responsible for the Safety of Sports Grounds legislation at the relevant time, any decision to issue or amend a safety certificate would have been a matter for the local authority.

Immigration

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will estimate the additional cost of the delivery of those public services for which her Department is responsible arising from inward migration since 1997.

Hugh Robertson: The Department does not routinely produce estimates of this nature. To do so would require the Department to incur disproportionate cost.

SCOTLAND

UK Membership of EU

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the First Minister on membership of the EU; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: No discussions have been held with the First Minister on membership of the EU. The UK Government has set out its view that the most likely scenario would be that an independent Scotland would have to join the EU as a new state, requiring negotiation with other member states including the terms of membership.

PRIME MINISTER

Food Banks

Luciana Berger: To ask the Prime Minister which food banks he has visited since May 2010; at what locations; and on what dates.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Lothian (Fiona O'Donnell) on 29 November 2012, Official Report, column 455W.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education: Hampshire

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 20 November 2012, Official Report, columns 438-39W, on Adult Education: Hampshire, what other qualifications or measures of attainment were achieved by students in (a) Southampton and (b) Hampshire aged (i) between 18 and 24 and (ii) over 25 years old who were not studying to level two or level three; and how many such students achieved each such qualification or measure of attainment in each year since 2006-07.

Matthew Hancock: As the requested table is large, I am placing in the Libraries of the House data to show government-funded further education and skills participation and achievement by age and level in Hampshire and Southampton local education authorities. Final data are shown for the 2006/07 to 2010/11 academic years and provisional data are shown for the 2011/12 academic year.
	Provisional data for the 2011/12 academic year provide an early view of performance and will change as further data returns are received from further education colleges and providers. They should not be directly compared with final year data from previous years. Figures for 2011/12 will be finalised in January 2013.
	Information on further education and skills participation and achievements by age, level and geography is published in a supplementary table of a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 11 October 2012:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_supplementary_tables/further_education_skills/

Apprentices

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average length of an apprenticeship has been in (a) England, (b) the north-east, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Matthew Hancock: The following table shows the adjusted average length of an apprenticeship framework in North West Durham constituency, Durham local education authority, the north-east region and England for 2009/10 to 2011/12 (provisional). Final data are shown for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 academic years and provisional data are shown for the 2011/12 academic year.
	Data prior to 2009/10 on the adjusted measure basis are not available, 2011/12 is the latest year for which data are available.
	Care should be taken when interpreting apprenticeship durations as they are dependent on the mix of apprenticeship levels and frameworks, and the prior attainment of learners (some will already have completed parts of the apprenticeship). The adjusted measure is intended to exclude those apprentices with some prior attainment.
	
		
			 Adjusted average length of stay (months) by geography, 2009/10 to 2011/12 (provisional) 
			  2009/10 2010/11 (1) 2011/12 
			 North West Durham parliamentary constituency 16 13 13 
			 Durham local education authority 16 13 12 
			 North-east region 16 13 12 
			 England total 15 13 12 
			 (1) Provisional Notes: 1. Provisional data for 2011/12 should not be directly compared with data for earlier years. 2. Average length of stay (adjusted) is based on the actual end date of the apprenticeship as recorded in the ILR; it only includes those achievements within the academic year that were fully funded. Source: Individualised Learner Record 
		
	
	Provisional data for the 2011/12 academic year provide an early view of performance and will change as further data returns are received from further education colleges and providers. They should not be directly compared with final year data from previous years. Figures for 2011/12 will be finalised in January 2013.
	Information on apprenticeship achievements by duration is published within the ‘Other Statistics’ section of the SFR website:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_other_statistics/
	From August 2012 Ministers have decided that an apprenticeship must last at least 12 months for under 19s, and for adults unless prior learning is recorded and funding reduced accordingly, in order to ensure that every apprenticeship involves sufficient new learning and opportunity to embed new skills.

Apprentices: Barnsley

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeships have been created in Barnsley Central constituency for people aged (a) 16 to 24, (b) 25 to 49 and (c) over 50 years in each month since May 2010.

Matthew Hancock: Table 1 shows the number of Apprenticeship programme starts in Barnsley Central parliamentary constituency and England by age and quarter. Final data are shown for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 academic years and provisional data are shown for the 2011/12 academic year.
	We publish Apprenticeship starts at the quarterly level, therefore data for each month is not presented.
	Provisional data for the 2011/12 academic year provide an early view of performance and will change as further data returns are received from further education colleges and providers. They should not be directly compared with final year data from previous years. Figures for 2011/12 will be finalised in January 2013.
	
		
			 Table 1: Apprenticeship programme starts by geography, age and quarter, 2009/10 to 2011/12 (provisional) 
			  2009/10 (final) 2010/11 (final) 2011/12 (provisional) 
			  Quarter 4 Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 
			 Barnsley Central constituency          
			 16-24 150 240 110 120 150 250 110 100 150 
			 25-49 30 70 90 110 120 140 110 90 130 
			 50+ * 10 10 20 20 20 20 10 20 
			 All age 180 320 210 250 280 400 240 200 300 
			           
			 England          
			 16-24 51,750 92,950 53,330 61,290 67,560 105,820 58,250 59,350 59,250 
			 25-49 11,510 23,670 33,260 43,500 52,170 47,920 42,810 46,420 49,500 
			 50+ 1,270 3,970 6,980 8,490 10,040 8,390 7,900 8,130 8,800 
		
	
	
		
			 All age 64,500 120,600 93,600 113,300 129,800 162,100 109,000 113,900 117,500 
			 “*” Indicates a base value of less than 5. Notes: 1. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10 except for England all age totals which are rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Age is based on age at the start of the programme. A small number of learners aged under 16 are included in the 16-24 age category. 3. Geographic breakdowns are based upon the home postcode of the learner. 4. Figures are based on the geographic boundaries as of May 2010. 5. Provisional data for 2011/12 should not be directly compared with data for earlier years. Source: Individualised Learner Record 
		
	
	Information on the number of Apprenticeship starts by Geography is published in a supplementary table to a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 11 October 2012:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_supplementary_tables/Apprenticeship_sfr_supplementary_tables/

Business: Regulation

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress he has made in reducing red tape for small and medium-sized enterprises; and what progress he plans to make in 2013.

Michael Fallon: Business of any size is at the heart of our country's economic recovery and future prosperity. One of the central planks in our strategy for growth is reducing the burden of regulation on business.
	We have already achieved a great deal in this area.
	In January 2011 we introduced the One-In, One-Out rule, under which any increase in regulation must be at least matched by a reduction elsewhere. As set out in the 5th Statement of New Regulation, this has saved business around £836 million. From 1 January 2013 we move to a One-In, Two-Out rule whereby Departments must find double the savings.
	We have introduced a “Micro Business Moratorium” under which no new regulations will be imposed on the smallest businesses until 2014, unless there is a special justification.
	By the end of 2012, our Red Tape Challenge will have scrapped or reduced over 20% of burdensome regulations identified so far. We estimate that that will save business over £160 million a year. We are on track to identify 3,000 regulations for scrapping by the end of 2013.
	Our programme of Focus on Enforcement reviews now under way will improve the enforcement of regulations and reduce associated burdens on industry. We have just launched a review of regulators' appeals processes.
	We have so far engaged 611 businesses across 95 local authorities in Primary Authority partnerships—legally binding agreements that provide assured regulatory advice, ensure consistency between local authority areas and reduce duplication of inspections and paperwork. We are seeking views on the implementation of Primary Authority for several new areas of business. The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill currently before Parliament would allow more firms to join the scheme.
	We are working hard to reduce the impact of European legislation. We are holding the Commission to account on commitments it made in November 2011 to exempt micro-businesses from future EU legislation unless there are compelling reasons to include them. We are examining existing and forthcoming EU legislation for further opportunities to lighten the burden on small businesses. For example, agreement was reached in Brussels in March to exempt up to 1.4 million UK small businesses from certain EU accounting rules, with UK backing.
	We will build on these successes in 2013. Central to this will be the implementation of the package which we announced in the autumn statement.

Debts: Advisory Services

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department provided for debt advice services in the latest period for which figures are available; what information his Department holds on funding available from other Departments for similar services; and who is responsible for any co-ordination of such activity.

Jo Swinson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) provided a £27 million grant in 2011/12 to support face-to-face debt advice projects following the closure of the Financial Inclusion Fund. In April 2012, the Money Advice Service, which is an independent body established by HM Treasury in 2010 through the Financial Services Act, took over the funding and co-ordination of the face-to-face debt advice projects. The Money Advice Service is funded by a levy on firms regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
	In 2011/12, BIS made a funding contribution of £1 million to the National Debtline to support telephone debt advice. This level of funding has also been maintained in 2012/13.
	BIS does not collect information on funding for debt advice provided by other Government Departments. Each Department makes decisions relating to supporting debt advice in relation to its responsibilities.

Equality

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of staff in his Department have received training in equality and diversity and the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, within the last three years.

Jo Swinson: The Department does not collect data centrally on individuals' learning activity. BIS is therefore unable to provide details of the proportion of staff who have received equality and diversity and Equality Act training.
	BIS offers a wide range of formal and informal training opportunities to its staff on these issues. These include specific events such as Diversity Week, talks from specific equality and diversity groups, 'e'-learning, regular intranet articles and guidance which staff are encouraged to read. Equality and diversity requirements are embedded in all training covering management and leadership, performance management, interviewing and induction delivered within BIS. The Department has a Director General Equality and Diversity Champion and an external advisory group to promote the importance of equality and diversity to the Department's work.

Export Credit Guarantees: North Korea

John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which goods exported to North Korea were covered by UK Export Finance leading to North Korea's sovereign debt to UK Export Finance; when such exports took place; and whether the goods were supplied to the Government of North Korea or to private companies.

Michael Fallon: The debt has been outstanding since 1975 and relates to a contract dated 27 July 1972 for the supply of equipment and services for a petrochemical complex to the Korea Equipment Import Corporation.

Financial Services: Education

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken to promote financial education for the purposes of discouraging the use of illegal money lenders.

Jo Swinson: On 1 April 2012, the Government published its response to the consultation on Empowering and Protecting Consumers, which set out the decision to establish a National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) for England and Wales. During 2012-13, the NTSB has continued to fund the Illegal Money Lending Teams. As well as arresting and prosecuting loan sharks, the teams also work with community partners to provide access to advice and support for victims. This involves ongoing, targeted campaigns to educate communities about illegal money lending.
	The England team are currently working to promote safe legal sources of credit to people at risk from loan sharks. One such campaign is aimed at taxi drivers, and specific credit union accounts are now being set up in areas where illegal lending is a threat.
	In Wales, client liaison officers have undertaken a variety of awareness raising activities and work alongside well established partner organisations.
	In Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is trialling a pilot schools education scheme in partnership with a local authority on illegal money lending. They are also looking at how they can make better links with the social fund and how individuals can be discouraged from approaching illegal money lenders.
	Further information on how to report loan sharks, check what companies have a licence and options for paying off debts is available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/report-loan-shark

Higher Education: Scotland

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (a) how many grants and (b) what amount of grant funding were awarded by each UK research council to each university in Scotland in each year from 2006-07 to 2011-12.

David Willetts: holding answer 17 December 2012
	The information requested by the right hon. Member will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

ICT

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to provide teaching of computer skills to (a) pensioners and (b) people from low-income backgrounds.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has provided £30 million over three years to commission UK Online Centres in England to help more people develop the skills needed to use a computer and to get online safely and securely. Over this period, UK online centres will have helped over 1,000,000 to use a computer and the internet.
	UK online centres are located in the top 10% most deprived community wards and attract hard to reach adults (aged 19 to 100+) from the poorest socio-economic groups. Of the 1 million helped:
	180,000 are aged 55-64, while 140,000 are aged 65+
	87% of learners have one or more indicators of deprivation
	34% of learners have an income below £9,999
	BIS is working alongside other Departments, like the Department for Work and Pensions, in continuing to support the network of UK Online Centres.
	In addition, significant numbers of people access basic computer skills courses funded by BIS in England through the main adult skills and community learning budgets, for which priorities are set locally. Community Learning particularly enables access for those most disadvantaged including older learners and those on low incomes. In 2010/11 academic year, there were 120,070 Community Learning enrolments in Information and Communication Technology.

Immigration

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the additional cost of the delivery of those public services for which his Department is responsible arising from inward migration since 1997.

Jo Swinson: The Department does not routinely produce estimates of this nature. To do so would require the Department to incur disproportionate cost.

London Metropolitan University

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what repayment arrangements have been concluded between the Higher Education Funding Council for England and London Metropolitan University in respect of overpayments incurred in previous years.

David Willetts: London Metropolitan University has repaid £19,024,983 to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to date, which represents 53% of the total overpayment incurred in previous years. The university has been discussing a rescheduling of payments to HEFCE to support it to implement a new strategic action plan, following the revocation of its Tier 4 licence to recruit overseas students in August 2012. HEFCE is currently working with London Metropolitan University to confirm these details.

Manufacturing Industries: Environment Protection

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on investment in green manufacturing jobs.

Matthew Hancock: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), to question 134534 asked by the hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham), during today's oral questions.

Medical Research Council: Redundancy

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employees of the Medical Research Council are currently on gardening leave from the start of their consultation stage of redundancy rather than at the point of notice stage of redundancy.

David Willetts: There are currently no Medical Research Council employees in the consultation stage of redundancy who are on gardening leave.

Money Lenders: Tees Valley

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce illegal money lending in Teesside; and what recent discussions his Department has had in this respect.

Jo Swinson: Until April 2012 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) directly funded Trading Standards to take on complex cases which crossed individual local authority boundaries. This included setting up an Illegal Money Lending Team for England which had a specific local presence in the North East.
	On 1 April 2012, the Government published its response to the consultation on Empowering and Protecting Consumers, which set out the decision to establish a National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) for England and Wales. During 2012/13, the NTSB has continued to fund the delivery of the Illegal Money Lending Team in England, which includes the same level of protection in the North East. The NTSB reports to BIS on progress on a quarterly basis, and BIS is represented on the NTSB.
	Between April 2004 and April 2012, Tackling Illegal Money Lending Teams for England, Wales and Scotland had:
	Identified over 2,500 illegal money lenders and arrested over 600 illegal money lenders and secured over 220 prosecutions, resulting in prison sentencing totalling over 117 years—some cases were connected to other, more serious criminal activity which took precedence over illegal money lending prosecutions.
	Seized over £2.1 million in cash.
	Identified over £28 million of assets that could be seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
	Helped over 16,000 victims of loan sharks.

Overseas Trade

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has contributed to raise awareness among small and medium-sized enterprises of opportunities for exports to emerging economies in the latest period for which figures are available.

Michael Fallon: The 2011 UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) corporate strategy, Britain Open for Business, sets out how UKTI is focusing more of its efforts on providing support to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access high growth and emerging markets. As a result, UKTI will increase the proportion of its overseas resources in these markets to help SMEs do so.
	44% of UKTI staff resources overseas are currently focussed on the 20 key high growth markets identified in the UKTI strategy. This percentage is considerably higher when including other high growth and newly emerging economies: for example Chile and Nigeria. UKTI has also established dedicated teams in Burma, Cambodia, Guyana, Libya, Mongolia, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and Turkmenistan within the last 18 months.
	Figures for 2011 show that of the nearly 9,000 firms that received support from UKTI in regards to high growth and emerging markets, two thirds reported significant business benefit in terms of improved productivity and competitiveness.
	In support of these efforts, the Chancellor's autumn statement on 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-82, announced that UKTI will increase its annual budget by £70 million to help deliver services to more SME exporters and help to refocus UKTI activities on the highest value opportunities and emerging markets. This balances the long-term opportunities presented by these markets with the other markets which are easier to access, e.g. in Europe.

Overseas Trade

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to increase the number of small and medium-sized enterprises which export to international markets.

Michael Fallon: Exporting forms a key strand of the Government's plans to return the economy to sustainable and balanced growth. That is why we have increased funding to UKTI in the autumn statement—an extra £140 million over the next two years—enabling them to double the number of SMEs supported from 25,000 to 50,000 by 2015.

Students: Loans

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many full-time members of staff at the Student Loans Company are working on the introduction of 24+ Advanced Learner Loans.

Matthew Hancock: There are currently approximately 61 full-time equivalent members of staff in the Student Loans Company working on the introduction of 24+ Advanced Learning Loans from April 2013.

Vocational Training: Young People

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to his speech on 21 November 2012 at the Association of Colleges Annual Conference 2012, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on providing support and incentives for young people aged over 18 to get the skills required to secure sustainable employment.

Matthew Hancock: Ministers from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions are in regular contact on a range of policy areas. Our Departments are working closely on improving the interaction of the skills and benefits systems so that they provide the right support to help young people to enter sustainable employment.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Ash Dieback Disease

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when his Department informed the Horticultural Trade Association that ash dieback had been discovered in a Buckinghamshire nursery in February 2012.

David Heath: Details of this interception were published on the Fera website on 17 April 2012 and a pest alert on the situation regarding Chalara fraxinea was posted on the Forestry Commission website on 16 May. These were not directly communicated to the Horticultural Trades Association or other trade associations at that time since this is not routine practice.

Conditions of Employment

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of officials in his Department have requested (a) part-time, (b) job-share or (c) other flexible working arrangements in each of the last five years; and how many such requests were granted.

Richard Benyon: Information on requests received and granted for part-time, job share or other flexible working arrangements in core DEFRA is not held centrally and could be provided only by incurring disproportionate cost.
	The proportion of part-time workers in core DEFRA in each of the last five years was as follows:
	
		
			 As at 30 November each year Percentage 
			 2008 10.5 
			 2009 11.8 
			 2010 11.9 
			 2011 11.8 
			 2012 12.8 
		
	
	Similar information for job-share or other flexible working arrangements could be provided only by incurring disproportionate cost.

Environment Protection

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring that any disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions data is adequate to monitor the risk of overexposure of financial markets to carbon intensive industries listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Richard Benyon: The Government announced in June 2012 that it would be introducing regulations that require quoted companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. This is information that the majority of investors, who responded to last year's consultation, wanted to see. Since the Government announcement, the Secretary of State has not discussed disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions with the Chancellor.

Fisheries: Western Sahara

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2012, Official Report, column 48W, on fisheries: Morocco, if he will make it his policy to insist that the Government of Morocco demonstrates that money received for any fishing opportunities offered to the EU in Western Sahara is used for the benefit specifically of the local Saharawi population.

Richard Benyon: Negotiations between the EU and Morocco on a new fisheries partnership agreement are ongoing. During these, the UK will be making it very clear that the Government of Morocco must demonstrate that money received for fishing opportunities in Western Sahara is used for the benefit of the local Saharawi population.

Flood Control

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of the Chew Magna property level flood protection scheme; and what assessment he has made of the (i) deployment and (ii) quality of the products supplied for that scheme by UK Flood Defences.

Richard Benyon: In Chew Magna a flood alleviation scheme could not be justified. However, as there was risk of chronic flooding, funding was allocated for property level protection to provide a viable option to delay or reduce the onset of flooding for this community.
	The products installed included demountable flood protection boards, automatic airbricks, waste and foul drain non-return valves and toilet bungs. In addition one property had a sump pump installed.
	Property level protection was successfully deployed by residents. However, some measures did not prevent flooding, either because they were overwhelmed or bypassed or because they were damaged. When used correctly, property level protection can provide cost-effective protection from flooding but as with all defences, they may not protect against the biggest events.
	DEFRA commissioned an independent report into the cost-effectiveness of property level measures. This showed that they can offer benefits of £5 for every £1 invested.
	The Environment Agency will continue to work with the local council to provide information and advice to the community and they are jointly commissioning a more detailed investigation.

Flood Control

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of grants for lead local flood authorities in England will be provided through the business rate retention system in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

Richard Benyon: Of the £36 million paid to lead local flood authorities, £21 million will be provided through the business rate retention system in 2013-14 and 2014-15. The remaining £15 million will be paid through local services support grants. The overall funding for local authorities to manage local flood risks will be the same as this year (2012-13) although will be paid through different routes.

Floods: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) homes and (b) businesses in Haltemprice and Howden constituency were at risk of flooding in each of the last five years.

Richard Benyon: The number of properties at risk of flooding is shown in the following table. The information is for properties that are at risk from an extreme event. An extreme event is classed as an event with a 0.1% chance of occurring in any one year. This dataset does not differentiate between residential homes and businesses.
	
		
			  Number of properties 
			 2008 16,409 
			 2009 16,883 
			 2010 16,409 
			 2011 16,079 
			 2012 17,410 
		
	
	The changes between years can be attributed to refinements in the Environment Agency's understanding of risk and the techniques available to them to map risk. These factors have had an impact on the number of properties deemed to be at risk.
	In 2012, approximately 36% of these properties are within areas benefiting from flood defences.

Food Banks

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the name and location is of each food bank that he or Ministers of his Department have visited since May 2010; and what the date was of each visit.

David Heath: Lord Taylor of Holbeach, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, visited Fareshare on 29 March 2011 and Foodcycle on 16 March 2011.
	The right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, visited Fareshare with her then ministerial team on 1 May 2011.

Inland Waterways: Conservation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how much funding has been provided by his Department to the Check, Clean, Dry campaign;
	(2)  if he will take steps to inform the public about the dangers of aquatic invasive non-native species and their environmental effects.

Richard Benyon: Public communication and engagement is a fundamental aspect of the Non-native Species Framework Strategy for GB. We are working with a broad range of partner organisations to raise the profile of invasive non-native species and their impacts. This includes, for example, our Be Plant Wise and Check, Clean, Dry campaigns. These campaigns are focused on raising the awareness of aquatic invasive non-native species and measures the public can take to prevent their entry and spread in the wild.
	Since its launch in 2010 DEFRA has invested in excess of £100,000 in the Check, Clean, Dry campaign. This does not include the significant amount of time and resources invested by partner organisations.

Inland Waterways: Conservation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will introduce measures to control and eradicate the invasive Dikerogammarus haemobaphes shrimp recently discovered in waters in and around Nuneaton.

Richard Benyon: As Dikerogammarus haemobaphes is widespread it is not feasible to eradicate it in the wider environment. DEFRA and its agencies are attempting to slow the spread of this and other invasive species by promoting better biosecurity among people who visit the water environment through the "Check, Clean, Dry" campaign.
	To support this work DEFRA is looking to commission a scientific review of biosecurity and potential control measures for Dikerogammarus haemobaphes.

Inland Waterways: Conservation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in which areas of England and Wales the invasive non-native Dikerogammarus haemobaphes shrimp has been discovered.

Richard Benyon: Dikerogammarus haemobaphes was first recorded in the River Severn in August 2012. Subsequent investigations in England and Wales have found that the shrimp is widespread in the rivers and canals of the midlands from Nottingham to Gloucester and in the River Thames from Lechlade to Staines. It has also been found in the Grand Union Canal near Northampton and the River Witham.

Inland Waterways: Conservation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make an assessment of the effect on the annual economic contribution of the angling community of England and Wales of the spread of invasive aquatic species.

Richard Benyon: A 2009 CABI report, Economic Cost of Invasive Non-native Species to Great Britain, estimated the annual cost to angling was £2,281,314 in England and £363,537 in Wales. The report was jointly funded by DEFRA, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government.

Inland Waterways: Conservation

Marcus Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will bring forward measures to control and eradicate the invasive Signal crayfish from waters in England and Wales.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA has commissioned research into the management of the species to reduce the scale of the population and mitigate their impacts at the local scale. Until effective management tools become available, efforts are mainly focused on limiting the spread of the species to new habitats and on the conservation of native species, such as by the establishment of refuge sites for white clawed crayfish. DEFRA is also working with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to develop an action plan to better co-ordinate efforts to manage non-native crayfish and their impacts. Additionally, DEFRA has launched a campaign called "Check, Clean, Dry" to raise awareness of the risks from aquatic invasive non-native species, such as non-native crayfish, and to promote simple steps that water-users can take to reduce the accidental spread of invasive species through their activities. Currently, however, there are no known methods available to eradicate signal crayfish populations.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to answer the letter sent to him by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 2 November 2012 with regard to Mr Leslie Howell.

Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs replied to the right hon. Member's letter on 12 December 2012.

Pate de Foie Gras

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will consider making it an offence to import foie gras for sale in British shops and through websites.

David Heath: The Government appreciates that many people would like us to ban the importation into and sale of foie gras in the UK. Foie gras is not produced in the UK, and the production of foie gras using force feeding gives rise to serious welfare concerns.
	However, the free movement of goods is a well established principle in European Union law and is enshrined in the treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU). While animal welfare concerns over the production of foie gras have been considered by the EU, trade in foie gras is not currently restricted under EU law.
	Consequently, a unilateral ban by the UK on the import of foie gras, or other sales restrictions, would be likely to contravene the provisions of the TFEU, risking claims for compensation from importers and the UK being referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Plants

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he last met Ministers from the devolved Administrations to discuss joint working on plant health strategies.

Richard Benyon: Although plant health is a devolved issue it is important to adopt a strategic UK approach as plant pests do not recognise borders. Senior officials from the devolved Administrations are members of the UK Plant Health Strategy Board which meets quarterly.
	During the Chalara outbreak the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), chaired cross-Government COBR meetings on 2 and 9 November to which Ministers from the devolved Administrations were invited. A Minister from the Scottish Government joined the meetings while the other devolved Administrations were represented by senior officials. Officials from the devolved Administrations also join by telephone the Policy Core Group and the operational update meetings.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what model her Department used to estimate the reduction in harm that would be achieved by the introduction of a 45 pence minimum unit price for alcohol as part of the Government's alcohol strategy; from which year the data used in that modelling was drawn; and whether she plans to update the model;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the likely effect on the Consumer Prices Index of minimum unit pricing of alcohol at (a) 45 pence, (b) 50 pence and (c) 55 pence;
	(3)  what assessment her Department has made of the consequences of setting a minimum unit price for alcohol in England which differs from the minimum unit price in effect in Scotland.

Jeremy Browne: On 28 November, the Government launched a consultation on key policies within the alcohol strategy, seeking views on a proposed minimum unit price of 45p.
	The Government also published a consultation stage impact assessment which sets out the impact of a 45p minimum unit price on a range of factors—this is available on the Home Office website.
	As set out in this published impact assessment, a minimum unit price of 45p will lead to an estimated 5,240 fewer alcohol-related crimes per year, 24,600 fewer alcohol-related hospital admissions per year after 10 years and 714 fewer deaths per year after 10 years. The impact of 45p minimum unit price on consumer prices index inflation is estimated to be +0.2ppts. No estimate is made for a minimum unit price of 50p or 55p.
	The University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) model has been used to assess the impact of minimum unit pricing on alcohol consumption and alcohol harms. This model was developed in 2009 using the best available data at the time. Where possible, the Government has uprated the price data to account for inflation.
	HM Revenue and Customs has also provided an estimate of the Exchequer impact using its existing alcohol model, designed for assessing the impact of a range of alcohol policies on the demand for duty-paid alcohol and the resulting excise duty receipts.
	The Government will consider views raised during the consultation and intends to publish a post-consultation impact assessment to reflect the final policy details. The Government also continues to monitor developments and progress in Scotland and will consider any issues arising alongside the consultation.

Antisocial Behaviour

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has any plans to announce restrictions on the use of the Mosquito teenager deterrent device; and if she will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: We have no such plans. It is for the police working with the Police and Crime Commissioners, and with other local agencies to decide on the most appropriate approach to antisocial behaviour in a particular area. That approach may or may not include the use of Mosquito devices, but agencies have a responsibility to communicate with people in the community, including young people, to involve them and take account of their views.

Domestic Violence

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the pilot domestic violence disclosure scheme.

Jeremy Browne: The Government is committed to conducting an assessment of the domestic violence disclosure scheme pilot, and is working with the four pilot areas to help enable an assessment of the running of the pilot and to capture lessons learnt. The pilot ends in September 2013 and will be assessed in due course. We will share findings with key partners including the devolved Administrations when they become available.

Domestic Violence: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the lessons to be learned from the pilot domestic violence disclosure scheme.

Jeremy Browne: No discussions have taken place to date on this specific subject with the Northern Ireland Executive.

Entry Clearances

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa applications made before 22 November 2012 had not been decided by 13 December 2012.

Mark Harper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 December 2012, Official Report, column 776W.

Forced Marriage

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make forced marriage a specific criminal offence.

Jeremy Browne: We are currently developing the legislative proposals, which will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

Immigration Controls

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made on the effects of using the immigration rules, laid on 22 November 2012, to determine applications made before that date.

Mark Harper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 December 2012, Official Report, column 776W.

Incitement

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences of inciting hatred on the grounds of race or religion under Part 3 and Part 3a of the Public Order Act 1986 have occurred in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Browne: The information requested is not available centrally.
	Section 3 of the Public Order Act 1986 relates to offences of affray. While such offences are recorded by the police under Home Office classification 66 ‘Other offences against the State or public order’, they cannot be separately identified from other offences recorded under this classification.

Police: Lancashire

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the police equipment budget in Lancashire was in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Damian Green: This information is not collected centrally. Police and Crime Commissioners have the responsibility for allocating the force budget, and the freedom and flexibility to make spending decisions locally.

Powers of Entry: Compensation

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had on the policy of not compensating householders for damage caused to property resulting from forcible entry by police officers while executing a warrant to enter and search when no prosecution is pursued as a result; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: None. Compensating householders in the circumstances described is a matter for individual police forces.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Construction: Materials

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effect of introduction of CE markings on building materials.

Don Foster: The Department consulted on the European Commission's proposed Construction Products Regulation in August 2008. An impact assessment and a report on the impacts of mandatory CE marking were published alongside the Consultation. The consultation, impact assessment and report can be found at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/constructionproductsconsult.pdf
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/iaconstructionproducts.pdf
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080915101357/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/reviewconstructionproducts.pdf
	The summary of responses report and an impact assessment updated to reflect the consultation responses were published in 2009. These documents are available at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/constructionproductsresponse.pdf
	http://www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/uploaded/Impact%20Assessment%20of%20the%20European%20 Commission%E2%80%99s%20proposed%20Construction%20 Products%20Regulation.pdf

Construction: Materials

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to promote awareness of the introduction of CE markings on building materials.

Don Foster: Many construction products manufacturers are already CE marking their products and others have well-advanced plans to do so, under the European construction products directive.
	The Department publishes guidance on CE marking of construction products in relation to the Building Regulations in the Approved Document in support of Regulation 7 which is available free to download from the Planning Portal,
	www.planningportal.gov.uk
	We consulted in 2008 on the European Construction Products Regulation which will require CE marking of most construction products from 1 July 2013. We also consulted earlier this year on a revision to update Approved Document 7 to reflect full implementation of the Construction Products Regulation from 1 July 2013. We published the updated edition on 19 December 2012.
	We are planning a series of events with industry partners in 2013 to publicise this as well as other changes to the Building Regulations and the Approved Documents alongside guidance industry has been produced to promote understanding of CE marking.

Family Intervention Projects

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department provided to family intervention projects in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Education.
	The Government allocated some £9.0 million in 2007-08, £11.2 million in 2008-09, £33.6 million in 2009-10, £49.78 million in 2010-11 and £46 million in 2011-12 for family intervention projects/services. The ring fence for this funding was removed in May 2010. From April 2011 the Early Intervention Grant of £2212 million (2011-12) and £2297 million (2012-13) was allocated to local authorities in England. This can fund universal programmes and activities available to ail children, young people and families as well as specialist services where intensive support is needed.

Homelessness: Suffolk

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people who are not UK citizens have presented themselves as being statutorily homeless under the terms of the Housing Act 1996 in (a) St Edmundsbury borough council area and (b) Mid Suffolk district council area in each year since 2004; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The available information is given in the following table.
	
		
			 Decisions on non-UK homelessness applicants 
			 Number 
			  St Edmundsbury  borough council Mid Suffolk  district council 
			 2005 (Q2 to Q4)(1, 2) — — 
			 2006(2) — — 
			 2007 2 1 
			 2008 7 0 
		
	
	
		
			 2009 1 0 
			 2010 0 0 
			 2011 1 1 
			 2012 (Q1, Q2 and Q3) 3 0 
			 (1 )Data were not collected before Q2 2005 (2 )Figures were not reported during this period Source: Quarterly PIE returns

Homelessness: Suffolk

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of homeless young people in Suffolk in each year since 2007.

Mark Prisk: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Homeless young people in Suffolk 
			   (b) Homelessness acceptances for priority need categories relating to young people 
			  (a) Homelessness acceptances with applicant aged 16 to 24 Applicant 16 or 17-years-old Applicant formerly in care and 18 to 20-years-old 
			 2007(1) 219 52 7 
			 2008 221 45 14 
			 2009 163 37 17 
			 2010 127 1 11 
			 2011 167 2 10 
			 Q1, Q2 and Q3 2012 157 5 14 
			 Total 1,054 142 73 
			 (1 )Ipswich aged 16 to 24 figures are not included for 2007 Q2 since it was not reported by the authority. Note: Figures from category (a) above cannot be added to those from category (b) to give an overall total because they are the results of breaking down the same total number of homelessness acceptances in two different ways. Source: PIE returns from local authorities. 
		
	
	Please note that Suffolk is covered by the local authorities: Babergh, Forest Heath, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, St Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney.
	A robust homelessness safety net remains in place for young homeless people. Local authorities have a statutory duty to house 16 and 17-year-olds, care leavers under the age of 21, and people over 21 who are vulnerable as a result of being in care.
	The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness published their second report in August 2012, which stresses the importance of supporting vulnerable young people to make a successful transition to adulthood. It champions a model of a 'positive youth accommodation pathway' for those who cannot stay within the family network or are leaving care. The report can be obtained from the Department's website at:
	www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/makingeverycontactcount
	We secured an additional £70 million last year to help local agencies prevent and tackle rough sleeping and single homelessness. This is on top of the £400 million we are investing for homelessness prevention over four years (2011-12 to 2014-15) which includes £10.8 million to help single people access private rented sector accommodation.

Housing

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will estimate the (a) number of dwellings and (b) proportion of the total number of dwellings accounted for by (i) student accommodation, (ii) empty properties brought back into use and (iii) converted properties which have qualified for New Homes Bonus allocations in each year to date. [R]

Mark Prisk: The table shows the total number of dwellings and the number of empty properties brought back into use, rounded to the nearest thousand. Outside of empty properties returned to use, the New Homes Bonus does not differentiate in terms of net additions to effective housing stock by type of accommodation or whether new build or conversion, so it is not possible to separately identify the other requested information.
	Notwithstanding, I refer the right hon. Member to the answer to him of 27 February 2012, Official Report, columns 36-37W, which notes how (a) the measurement of the changes to housing stock are overseen by an independent agency which is not in receipt of the New Homes Bonus and (b) there must be substantive material changes and alterations to a property to be deemed to be a conversion.
	I also refer the right hon. Member to the answer to him of 23 April 2012, Official Report, columns 633-34W, which notes that increases in dedicated student accommodation will have a beneficial effect on the wider housing supply, by taking pressure off private rented accommodation.
	
		
			   Of which:  
			  Total number of properties recognised by New Homes Bonus N umber of  empty homes brought  back into use Empty Homes as a proportion of total (percentage) 
			 Year l 150,000 16,000 10.7 
			 Year 2 159,000 22,000 13.8 
			 Year 3(1) (provisional) 155,000 (1)13,000 8.4 
			 Total 464,000 51,000 11.0 
			 (1) For year 3, there are 29 authorities where we have asked for clarification of empty homes data provided, and have not included an empty homes component in their provisional allocations. We will take account of those authorities' responses when determining final allocations, and at that stage all authorities will receive an allocation that includes any empty homes element due to them.

Housing: Finance

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what amount of (a) new homes bonus and (b) affordable homes premium (i) has been allocated to date and (ii) will fall due to be paid to each housing authority in England over the next six years. [R]

Mark Prisk: To date a total of £1.293 billion of New Homes Bonus funding has been allocated to authorities in respect of increases in their effective housing stock, this total includes affordable housing premium of some £62.8 million. In respect of allocations to date, I am placing the information requested into the Library of the House.
	While each year's allocation of New Homes Bonus is paid for six years, it is not possible to forecast precisely how much will fall to be paid to local authorities in the next six years, as New Homes Bonus recognises actual delivery, therefore figures for future years are uncertain.

Housing: Fire Prevention

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will renew the guidance issued by his Department on the use of fire-resistant building materials.

Don Foster: My Department publishes technical guidance on meeting the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations in Approved Document B ‘Fire safety’.
	We consulted earlier this year on changes to Approved Document B in respect of the reaction to fire of wall and ceiling linings and lighting diffusers. We published revisions to Approved Document B on 19 December 2012 that come into effect on 6 April 2013, but we have no other revisions planned.

Private Rented Housing: Rents

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has made an estimate of the average level of private sector rents over the next four years; whether such an estimate has been made for each local authority area; and if he will publish any such estimates.

Mark Prisk: The Department for Communities and Local Government has not estimated future private sector rents. The Valuation Office Agency publishes estimates of average rents by local authority but do not estimate future levels of rents. I would observe that Rightmove have forecast that two-thirds of landlords are planning to freeze rents next year (Rightmove, Consumer Rental Forecast, 3 December 2012).

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Food Banks

Luciana Berger: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the name and location is of each food bank that he has visited since May 2010; and on what date he visited them.

Nicholas Clegg: I have meetings and discussions with a wide range of organisations and individuals at a variety of locations around the country. My engagements are announced as and when appropriate.

Peers

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what the (a) ethnicity, (b) social class at birth, (c) gender, (d) religion and (e) region of birth is of the membership of the House of Lords;
	(2)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of (a) an hon. Member and (b) a Member of the House of Lords in 2011;
	(3)  how many Members of the House of Lords there were by political party in each of the last 30 years.

Chloe Smith: The information requested is not held by the Government. These are matters for the House of Commons and House of Lords authorities.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Biofuels

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect of demand for domestic feedstocks for bioenergy on existing wood users; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Forestry Commission publishes data showing the volume of round wood delivered to various wood processing markets each year. These demonstrate that the demand for domestic feedstocks for bioenergy is not impacting on existing wood users.
	The latest information for softwood shows that deliveries to sawmills in 2011 were at their highest for several years, while deliveries to the panel board industry have remained constant and those to the bioenergy industry have grown. Deliveries to pulp mills have fallen, in line with falling demand:
	http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forstats2012.nsf/LUContents/824A4E0E2DDEDC858025731B00541EFF
	Almost no hardwood is used for the production of wood panel products in the UK and no hardwood is used for pulp production following the closure of the last such mill in 2006. Supplies for bioenergy have helped to maintain forest management for hardwood supplies at modest levels:
	http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forstats2012.nsf/LUContents/187E23791CE53F068025735200491AFF
	Analysis carried out for the UK Bioenergy Strategy, published in April 2012, estimates that supplies from UK forests are expected to increase. The Forestry Commission's current forecast estimates that the UK softwood harvest for all uses is due to peak at 12 million green tonnes in the period 2017 to 2021 (equivalent to around 6 million oven dried tonnes (odt)).

Data and Communications Company

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the contribution of the hon. Member for South Holland and the Deepings of 12 September 2012, Tenth Delegated Legislation Committee, column 6, when he plans to publish details of the key stages of the process of appointments to the Data and Communications Company on his Department's website.

Gregory Barker: The Smart Meters Implementation Programme (SMIP) has recently updated its high-level plan.
	This information will be published on the Department's website before the end of the year, and updated thereafter should there be any changes. It includes the planning assumptions for the DCC tender exercise and the DCC Service Provider Procurement.

Fuel Poverty

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people were living in fuel poverty on 1 December (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: Fuel poverty is measured at a household level and figures are published on an annual basis. The number of households estimated to be living in fuel poverty in England in 2010 was 3.5 million. The Department of Energy and Climate Change also publishes projections of fuel poverty, which are 3.5 million households in 2011, and 3.9 million households in 2012.
	Actual data for 2011 will be published on 16 May 2013.

Renewable Energy

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what arrangements are in place to explain the contracts for difference mechanism for renewable energy investors in order to ensure there is no adverse effect of the introduction of those contracts on the level of energy investment.

John Hayes: Alongside the Energy Bill, the Department published on 29 November further detail on Contracts for Difference (CfDs), including the operational framework and heads of terms:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/meeting_energy/markets/electricity/electricity.aspx
	The Department meets regularly with relevant stakeholders, including renewable trade associations and developers and investors, and has set up an Expert Groups (comprised of experts in the sector) to allow stakeholder participation in policy development for the Contracts for Difference. Furthermore, the Department's commercial team has ongoing engagement with a wide cross section of the investor and finance community. On 10 December, my officials hosted a City briefing seminar for over 70 participants which provided investors with the opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of the proposals for electricity market reform set out in the Energy Bill and accompanying publications.
	In addition, to enable a smooth transition from the renewables obligation (RO), the RO will remain open in parallel until 31 March 2017; and we have set up a project to allow early final investment decisions to take place in advance of the rollout of CfDs in 2014.

Wind Power: Carmarthenshire

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what process he plans to use to satisfy himself that the requirements of paragraphs 4.9.1 and 4.9.3 of the Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy are met during the examination of the grid connection element of the Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm; and what arrangements are in place to take account of the views of residents, businesses, heritage organisations and the tourist industry as part of that process.

John Hayes: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), is currently considering the Planning Inspectorate's report and recommendation for the Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm application made under the Planning Act 2008. For propriety reasons, Ministers are unable to comment on the merits or otherwise of live planning applications. However, the Planning Act processes require that developers carry out consultation on their proposals with interested parties, and permit interested parties to submit evidence to the examining authority. The Secretary of State will look to ensure these requirements have been fulfilled and all relevant issues considered when assessing the report and recommendation.

Wind Power: Noise

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the work of the Institute of Acoustics on the methodology employed to determine wind turbine noise assessments.

Gregory Barker: Ministers will consider the guidance on wind turbine noise when it is due to be published in spring 2013.

Wind Power: Noise

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what Minister in his Department will have responsibility for considering the findings commissioned by his Department of the Institute of Acoustics on the methodology employed to determine wind turbine noise assessments.

John Hayes: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), is responsible for renewable energy strategy. I am responsible for renewable energy deployment.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Argentina

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the government of Argentina on reports of actions in ports in that country affecting the Falkland Islands cruise ship industry; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: The Government deeply regrets that elements in Argentina have recently taken action aimed at disrupting cruise ships that visit the Falklands. We condemn unequivocally any efforts to intimidate companies from pursuing their lawful business. My officials have discussed these issues, and the wider issues affecting shipping, with Argentine officials on two separate occasions and on 3 December 2012 when we summoned the Argentine ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The ambassador is in no doubt about our strength of feeling on this matter.
	We are also in discussions with international partners who share our concerns about these illegitimate efforts to interfere with shipping and tourism in the region, and we remain in contact with the cruise ship industry. I understand that Carnival UK, having failed to receive assurances that its ships will not be disrupted in Argentina, has been forced to drop Argentine ports. They are the third cruise line to cancel calls on Argentina. Carnival UK will however continue to call at the Falklands, and we hope that others in the industry will similarly refuse to bow to blackmail, which is designed only to damage the economic well-being of the Falkland Islands' people.
	It is unfortunate that such actions by groups within Argentina, which have yet to be condemned by their Government, have not only prevented thousands of passengers from visiting Argentina, but have also harmed the livelihoods of those working in the Argentine tourism sector. The British Government continues to encourage all those in Argentina to allow cruise ships to travel without threats or hindrance.

Bahrain

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Bahrain government to secure the release of Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi 'Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, members of the Bahrain Teachers' Association who were arrested in March and April 2011.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of the case of the Bahrain Teachers' Association. The High Appeal court announced the verdicts of their retrial on 21 October and both had their sentences reduced. Ms Jalila Al Salman received six months instead of three years and Mr Mahdi Abu Deeb five years instead of ten years. Both are currently in detention but still retain the right to appeal those verdicts in the Cassation Court.
	We have been closely monitoring trials in Bahrain, including attendance at many cases by a member of staff from the British embassy. We continue to urge the Government of Bahrain to ensure that due process is carefully and transparently followed in all cases, and that civil liberties are protected, particularly where severe penalties are imposed. It is essential that anyone accused has adequate time to prepare a defence, access legal counsel, and is tried before independent, impartial tribunals.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) has frequently stressed the need for Bahrain to meet all its human rights obligations and we will continue to pursue a policy of direct and frank engagement.

British Indian Ocean Territory

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2012, Official Report, column 338W, on the British Indian Ocean Territory, what the basis is for his assertion that in the relevant Decision Notice the Information Commissioner has concluded that the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 do not apply to the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Mark Simmonds: The Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations do not apply to Overseas Territories. In the Information Commissioner's Decision Notice of 6 November 2012, the Information Commissioner accepts in paragraphs 2, 30 and 40 of the notice, that the governments of the British Indian Ocean Territory and the UK are constitutionally separate. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has accepted that British Indian Ocean Territory Administration information stored on FCO systems in London is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations.

Burma

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of political prisoners in Burma following the state of emergency in Rakhine state; and what recent representations he has made to the authorities in that country on arbitrary detentions.

Hugo Swire: Since the outbreak of violence in Rakhine State December, we have received reports of arbitrary detentions and mistreatment of Rohingya prisoners in Rakhine. It remains challenging to verify these reports or to estimate the numbers of political prisoners across Burma as access to prisons by international agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, has previously been withheld.
	My recent visit to Burma from 12-15 December allowed me to raise these concerns about political prisoners in Rakhine State and across Burma with senior members of the Burmese Government. I welcomed both the political prisoner review mechanism announced by the Burmese Government in November and their decision to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to detention centres across Burma. I also raised with Ministers several of the detention cases that have been highlighted by international non-governmental organisations, including the detention of UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) employee, Nandar Aung, her husband, Maung Maung Than, her father, Dr Tun Aung, and, separately, monk activist U Gambira, now released on bail.
	I also pressed for Burma to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and requested support for the upcoming UN General Assembly resolution on the death penalty.
	We continue to call for the unconditional release of all political prisoners at every opportunity.

Burma

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the authorities in Burma on the powers of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department and freedom of the press in that country.

Hugo Swire: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), released a statement on 20 August, welcoming the announcement by the Burmese Government of the relaxation of the rules around pre-publication censorship by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department. This was a significant step forward in the relaxation of press censorship in Burma. The Burmese Government is due to publish a new media law in early 2013. We understand that this will lead to the complete abolition of the censorship board and its replacement with a new Press Council. It is not clear at this stage what will be the nature of the relationship between the Press Council and the Burmese Government.
	The UK Government is contributing to the capacity-building of the media in Burma through overseas development assistance funding, focusing on supporting civil society and independent media outlets. Through Department for International Development funding, BBC Media Action, a UK-based non-governmental organisation, provides support to a weekly radio programme, Lin Lat Kyair Sin, which is broadcast on the BBC Burmese service. This support includes training for local young journalists to strengthen their journalism skills. The BBC has also conducted a training needs analysis as part of a planned broader work programme with the Burmese State Broadcaster. The UK Government also notes the move by the BBC to begin broadcasting in Burma on three new channels.

Middle East

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to promote compliance with obligations under international law in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Alistair Burt: We repeatedly call on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law and have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation, including settlements and the treatment of prisoners, including Palestinian children in military custody.
	We have consistently condemned Israel's announcements to expand settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. As well as being illegal under international law, settlements undermine the possibility of a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and those working for a sustainable peace. We look to the Government of Israel to take all necessary steps to prevent settlement construction.

Middle East

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of the appointment of a new US special envoy to the Middle East on the prospects of restarting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

William Hague: Events of recent weeks underline the need for a major push led by the US, and backed by European nations, to secure progress towards a two-state solution before it is too late. I have discussed this with Secretary Clinton and stressed that this will require more intense efforts than anything seen since the Oslo Peace Accords. In our view, special envoys can play a significant role but political will and commitment from all involved are vital for progress.
	The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) met with the current US special envoy, David Hale, on 12 November to encourage the US to show decisive leadership and do all it can in the coming weeks and months to drive the peace process forward.

Syria

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the likely causes of internet and mobile telephone networks being cut off in Syria.

William Hague: We are aware that internet, mobile telephone and landline networks were disrupted throughout much of Syria between 29 November and 2 December. As the fighting in Syria continues there are inevitable disruptions to services such as communications networks. The regime and opposition both blamed each other for the disruption. However, gaining a clear insight into the exact reasons for it has proved difficult. We are also aware that the regime has in the past disrupted communications services to stop the opposition from communicating with the outside world as well as to obstruct its capacity to communicate internally. We continue to monitor the situation in consultation with our staff at the Syria Office in Beirut.

Syria

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on the duration of the EU arms embargo against Syria; what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on this matter; and what proposals have been made at EU level to vary the terms of the embargo.

William Hague: The UK continues to work with its international partners, including EU member states in an effort to bring an end to the violence and support the opposition to achieve a political transition in Syria.
	The UK successfully negotiated a limited three-month rollover to the EU sanctions package, including the arms embargo in November. Limiting the renewal period of the arms embargo sends a clear signal to the Assad regime that we are continually reviewing our policy and that all options remain on the table.
	I attended the Foreign Affairs Council on 10 December 2012 along with my EU counterparts, where the EU agreed language noting that "the current situation is unsustainable and does not allow adequate protection of civilians". We will hold further discussions with EU member states ahead of the 1 March 2013 renewal deadline on options to support and help the opposition and to enable greater support for the protection of civilians.

Tibet

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Chinese Government and (b) the United Nations on self-immolations in Tibet.

Hugo Swire: I issued a statement on 17 December, urging the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint and calling on Tibetans not to resort to extreme forms of protest such as self-immolation.
	We regularly raise our serious concerns about Tibet with the Chinese authorities, most recently, at official level, on 14 and then 18 December. The UK also raised Tibet, focusing on the rights of Tibetans to assemble peacefully, during the 20 June session of the UN Human Rights Council. Through the EU, we expressed concern about reports of human rights violations in China, including in Tibet, at the UN Human Rights Council on 17 September.

HEALTH

Cancer

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on cancer services in each year since 2001-02.

Anna Soubry: This information is not available in the format requested. The vast majority of cancer spend is funded from primary care trust (PCT) baseline allocations. PCTs have local discretion as to how they spend their overall baseline allocations, including in the area of cancer care, to allow commissioning to best reflect the needs of local populations. Budgets for specific disease areas are not identified centrally within baseline allocations.

Carbon Monoxide: Poisoning

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating carbon monoxide poisoning in the period from 2006 to 2011.

Daniel Poulter: No estimate has been made. The cost to the national health service of treating carbon monoxide poisoning is not reported separately to the Department.

Care Quality Commission

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many random and unannounced inspections the Care Quality Commission has carried out in each of the last three years.

Norman Lamb: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. When the CQC took on this role in April 2009 it carried out its regulatory duties under the Care Standards Act 2000. From April 2010 national health service providers were registered with the CQC for the first time under the new regulatory framework set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008. On 1 October 2010 independent health care and adult social care providers came into the new regulatory framework. Since April 2011, primary dental service providers and independent ambulance service providers have also been required to register with the CQC under the new framework.
	The CQC has provided the following information:
	Under the 2000 Act, the CQC carried out random inspections and key inspections. Random inspections were short, targeted inspections, focusing on a specific issues. Key inspections were a thorough look at how well the service was doing against national minimum standards; most of these were announced.
	Under the 2008 Act the vast majority of inspections are unannounced. The CQC may give notice so smaller providers, such as dentists, are alerted for practical reasons, in advance of the CQC's arrival.
	The following tables show the number of unannounced and random inspections carried out by the CQC under the Care Standards Act 2000 between 1 April 2009 and 30 September 2010.
	
		
			 Adult social care providers 
			  2009-10 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010 
			 Key unannounced inspections 13,198 3,180 
			 Random unannounced inspections 2,462 3,003 
			 Random announced inspections 36 22 
			 Total 15,696 6,205 
			 Note: The CQC also carried out 356 announced inspections in 2009-10 and 51 between 1 April and 30 September 2010. 
		
	
	
		
			 Independent health care providers 
			  Unannounced inspections 
			 2009-10 332 
			 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010 172 
			 Note: The CQC also carried out 718 announced inspections in 2009-10 and 312 between 1 April and 30 September 2010. 
		
	
	The following table shows the number of inspection that have been carried out by the CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 since 1 April 2010: 42,114 in total.
	The CQC is not able to provide a breakdown that shows the number of unannounced inspections as it does not hold that information centrally.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012 to date Total 
			 NHS Healthcare Organisation 163 769 863 1,795 
			 Adult social care (since 1 October 2010) 524 11,989 21,895 34,408 
			 Independent Healthcare (since 1 October 2010) 15 813 1,432 2,260 
			 Primary Dental Care (since 1 April 2011) — 65 3,469 3,534 
			 Independent Ambulance (since 1 April 2011) — 13 102 115 
		
	
	
		
			 Primary Medical Services — — 2 2 
			 Total 702 13,649 27,763 42,114 
			 Note: Figures for 2012 are taken from the CQCs database at 17 December 2012

Chronic Illnesses

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the population suffer persistent or chronic pain; and what treatments are available for persistent or chronic pain.

Norman Lamb: The best available information on the prevalence of chronic pain in England comes from the 2011 Health Survey of England, which estimates that 31% of adult men and 37% of adult women suffer from pain of more than three months duration. This would imply a total of around 14.7 million adults living with chronic pain. Available treatments include medication, spinal manipulation, physiotherapy and (for certain causes of pain) surgery. In addition, many people with chronic pain are helped to manage their pain through psychological interventions or other pain management programmes. Commissioners should therefore ensure that patients with chronic pain have access to multi-disciplinary pain management services including at a minimum a consultant in pain management, a physiotherapist and a clinical psychologist.
	
		
			 HSE 2011: Chronic pain prevalence estimates 
			   Estimated prevalence 
			 Age band Population estimate (mid year 2011) (thousand) Percentage Number (thousand) 
			 Men    
			 16-24 3,182 — — 
			 25-34 3,576 — — 
			 16-34 6,758 14 946 
			 35-44 3,689 30 1,107 
			 45-54 3,608 33 1,190 
			 55-64 3,039 43 1,307 
			 65-74 (1)2,186 48 1,049 
			 75+ (1)1,659 53 879 
			 All men 20,831 31 6,458 
			 Total of above 20,938  6,478 
			     
			 Women    
			 16-24 3,103 — — 
			 25-34 3,585 — — 
			 16-34 6,688 18 1,204 
			 35-44 3,746 31 1,161 
			 45-54 3,672 42 1,542 
			 55-64 3,130 51 1,597 
			 65-74 (1)2,366 55 1,302 
			 75+ (1)2,449 59 1,445 
			 All women 21,744 37 8,045 
			 Total of above 22,052  8,251 
			     
			 Total 42,990  14,729 
			 (1) Unadjusted ONS estimates. Remaining figures from HSE 2011.

Diabetes: Children

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) accident and emergency attendances and (b) emergency admissions for diabetes treatment for children under 18 years old there were in each hospital trust in each of the last two years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The numbers of finished admission episodes with an emergency admission of diabetes, from the ages of 0 to 17 years, by hospital provider, have been placed in the Library.
	The total count of finished admission episodes for 2010-11, was 7,164 and 2011-12 was 6,871, this is not a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on more than one occasion.
	The standard of diagnosis coding in accident and emergency Hospital Episode Statistics data means that we are unable to provide a count of accident and emergency attendances for diabetes.

Health Services

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department records proposed reconfigurations of local health services.

Anna Soubry: Decisions concerning the provision and reconfiguration of NHS services are a matter for the local national health service. To that end, we have outlined strengthened criteria that decisions on local NHS services changes are expected to meet. Those strengthened criteria are:
	(i) support for proposals for change from general practitioner commissioners
	(ii) strengthened public and patient engagement
	(iii) clarity on the clinical evidence base
	(iv) consistency with current and prospective patient choice

Hospitals: Norovirus

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department is providing any funding to the NHS to counter the outbreak of norovirus in hospitals.

Anna Soubry: Funding for NHS services is currently allocated to primary care trusts (PCTs). Once allocated it is for PCTs to commission the services they need to meet the health care needs of their local populations, taking account of national and local priorities.
	The national health service is well prepared for the increase in winter related health problems which are typical at this time of year. Preparations are made across the NHS annually and these are now in place in every area of England.

Sick Leave

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2012, Official Report, column 361W, on sick leave, if he will place anonymised results of the most recent assessment by his Department of difference in attendance rates in the Library.

Daniel Poulter: This previous reply confirmed that the Department has made no formal assessment of the difference in attendance rates. It is therefore not possible to place such information in the Library.

Smoking

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration he gave to including indicators in the (a) Public Health Outcomes Framework and (b) NHS Outcomes Framework related to reducing the prevalence of smoking.

Anna Soubry: Reducing smoking prevalence and greater tobacco control is an important part of Government's public health policy. The Government consulted on 62 public health indicators for inclusion within the Public Health Outcomes Framework, including one on smoking prevalence, between December 2010 and March 2011. The consultation responses demonstrated overwhelming support for the inclusion of indicators on smoking prevalence. Following further engagement with expert bodies and other stakeholders, the final Outcomes Framework included three indicators relating to smoking prevalence, namely: smoking at time of delivery; smoking at age 15; and adult (over-18s) smoking prevalence.
	As responsibility for tackling smoking prevalence is a public health priority, relevant indicators were included within the Public Health Outcomes Framework. However, the Public Health and the NHS Outcomes Frameworks both include indicators on premature mortality rates, which are affected by a number of factors, including smoking prevalence.

Smoking: Health Education

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department plans to repeat the Stoptober campaign in 2013 and subsequent years.

Anna Soubry: It was always envisaged that if Stoptober 2012 was successful, it would be run as an annual event. Early results are encouraging. Subject to results from the full campaign evaluation, budgetary allocation and approvals from the Efficiency and Reform Group, it is our intention to run Stoptober again in 2013.

Smoking: Health Education

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to ensure that NHS Stop Smoking Services continue to be commissioned by local authorities following the transfer of commissioning responsibilities from primary care trusts;
	(2)  what guidance his Department will issue to clinical commissioning groups on collaboration with local authorities in providing integrated smoking cessation interventions.

Anna Soubry: The Department has no plans to issue guidance to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) on collaboration with local authorities in providing integrated smoking cessation interventions. However, the Department would expect that local authorities and CCGs would collaborate with the local Stop Smoking Service teams and commissioners to deliver integrated smoking cessation interventions based on best practice.
	Local authorities will receive a ring-fenced public health grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to ensure that they improve their performance against the smoking prevalence indictors in the Public Health Outcomes Framework and to deliver the best cessation opportunities within their area to support progress against the indicators.
	The Department published an updated version of its Stop Smoking Service Monitoring and Guidance in September 2012, “Local Stop Smoking Services; key updates to the 2011-12 service delivery and monitoring guidance for 2012-13”, which is designed to support the commissioning of high quality and effective stop smoking services.
	The guidance has been placed in the Library.
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published public health guidance to support smoking cessation in the following areas: brief interventions and referral for smoking cessation (PHI); workplace interventions to promote smoking cessation (PH5); smoking cessation services (PH10); and quitting smoking in pregnancy and following childbirth (PH26).
	The guidelines are available at:
	www.nice.org.uk

Smoking: Health Education

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time staff are employed in local NHS stop smoking services (a) in England and (b) by each primary care trust; and if he will estimate how many such staff will be employed (i) in England and (ii) by each local authority in 2013-14.

Anna Soubry: The Department does not hold data on the numbers of persons working in stop smoking services in each primary care trust area or in England as a whole.

EDUCATION

Children: Protection

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what recommendations from the Carlile Report into the Edlington case he plans to institute and when;
	(2)  what consultation he proposes as a result of the Carlile Report;
	(3)  when he proposes to publish findings from the pilots into alternative forms of serious case reviews and how these will be carried forward in the light of the Carlile Report into the Edlington case.

Edward Timpson: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), asked Lord Carlile to conduct an independent review into the case of the 'J' brothers in Edlington following publication of an unsatisfactory Serious Case Review overview report on the case.
	On the day of publication of Lord Carlile's report, the Secretary of State said:
	‘I asked Lord Carlile to look at the situation in Doncaster because there were problems specific to the town which required expert external analysis. But in asking him to take on this work I was keen not just that we should learn lessons specific to Doncaster—but also that he should make recommendations about wider changes we needed to make to improve child protection.
	Reading his report, I have found his overall argument compelling. There are a series of specific recommendations, many of which I am instinctively drawn to and all of which deserve careful consideration. The Government will respond formally to all the recommendations in due course.
	But I want there to be a time for debate before the time of decision. Because one of the reasons why I like Lord Carlile's approach so much is that he issues tough challenges—as I hope to today—and if we speak plainly then in fairness we need to hear how others respond before acting’.
	The Government is now considering each of Lord Carlile's recommendations carefully and will be consulting relevant organisations who have an interest and we will respond in due course.
	The Government has been dissatisfied for some time with the way in which Serious Case Reviews are conducted. We have consulted on revised statutory guidance which will put the emphasis on conducting reviews which get to the heart of what happened in a serious incident, and why, and highlight the importance of making the findings available to the public.
	Three Local Safeguarding Children Boards have been piloting a new approach to Serious Case Reviews which follows the systems methodology recommended by Professor Eileen Munro. The Department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the pilots which will, along with Lord Carlile's report, inform the final revised statutory guidance on Serious Case Reviews. The report of the independent evaluation will also be published in due course.

Part-time Employment

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of trends in the number of young people studying at school or college with Saturday jobs or other part-time work.

David Laws: The Department does not collect information on the number of young people with Saturday jobs, but some data on participation of young people in education and employment are available and published in a Department for Education (DFE) Statistical First Release (SFR) entitled "Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year Olds in England".
	The first table shows the numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds (academic age) in both full-time education and employment in England between 2001 and 2011; the second table expresses that number as a proportion of all 16 to 18-year-olds in England:
	
		
			  Aged 16 Aged 17 Aged 18 Aged 16-18 
			 End 2001 193,800 193,300 87,500 474,600 
			 End 2002 197,200 193,300 85,600 476,100 
			 End 2003 188,100 195,300 90,900 474,300 
			 End 2004 180,000 197,800 98,900 476,800 
			 End 2005 164,600 189,900 97,600 452,000 
			 End 2006 157,900 197,400 95,300 450,600 
		
	
	
		
			 End 2007 169,400 205,800 95,700 470,900 
			 End 2008 152,500 188,700 102,400 443,600 
			 End 2009 127,900 179,400 98,900 406,200 
			 End 2010 111,500 165,900 87,500 364,900 
			 End 2011 (provisional) 115,400 162,600 92,300 370,300 
		
	
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  Aged 16 Aged 17 Aged 18 Aged 16-18 
			 End 2001 30.6 31.5 14.5 25.7 
			 End 2002 31.2 30.2 13.8 25.1 
			 End 2003 29.1 30.6 13.9 24.5 
			 End 2004 27.1 30.2 15.2 24.2 
			 End 2005 25.1 28.3 14.7 22.7 
			 End 2006 23.7 29.7 14.0 22.4 
			 End 2007 25.2 30.6 14.2 23.3 
			 End 2008 23.1 27.8 15.0 21.9 
			 End 2009 20.0 26.9 14.4 20.4 
			 End 2010 17.6 25.8 12.9 18.7 
			 End 2011 (provisional) 18.6 25.5 14.2 19.4 
		
	
	Note that the tables above exclude young people who were doing work-based learning (largely apprenticeships) and also those in employer-funded training; both of these groups are in employment by definition. Also excluded are those in 'other education and training' which is a combination of part-time education and education with a private training provider. Numbers and proportions for these groups are available via the link above.

Special Educational Needs

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the process of obtaining a statement of special educational needs for people with (a) muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions and (b) other rare and complex conditions.

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the process of obtaining a statement of special educational needs for people with (a) muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions and (b) other rare and complex conditions.

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the process of obtaining a statement of special educational needs for people with (a) muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions and (b) other rare and complex conditions.

Edward Timpson: We set out our plans for improving services and outcomes for all disabled children and young people, including those with muscular dystrophy, related neuromuscular conditions and other rare and complex conditions, in the 2011 Green Paper “Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability” and the subsequent “Progress and Next Steps” document, published in May 2012. The draft provisions recently published are intended to be the next step towards achieving the Green Paper vision of a system where services work together more effectively to support families and young people and families themselves are part of decision-making rather than having to fight to secure the support that they need.
	We intend to replace the current statement and Learning Difficulty Assessment with a holistic and outcomes-focused Education, Health and Care Plan which will be built on a stronger and more integrated process of assessment and planning. We are also introducing a requirement for local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to commission services jointly for children and young people with special educational needs (this includes those who have a disability which restricts them from accessing normally available educational provision). This is a significant change and will require services to work together to jointly agree what support is needed and for whom—cutting across some of the traditional gaps experienced by families between education, health and social care services.
	20 pathfinders, involving 31 local authorities and their health partners, have been appointed to test the proposals in the Green Paper and will inform the changes we make to legislation through the planned Children and Families Bill. The pathfinders are focusing on involving parents and young people more fully in decisions about the education, health and care of their children, including trialling personal budgets for those who want them, and developing a clear offer of the support that is available locally.

Teenage Pregnancy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time officials in his Department will be working directly on the teenage pregnancy strategy from January 2013.

Edward Timpson: holding answer 13 November 2012
	The standalone Teenage Pregnancy Strategy ended in 2010 but the Department for Education continues to hold responsibility for teenage pregnancy policy. At present, one member of staff works part time on teenage pregnancy policy and support for teenage parents; two other officials also have responsibility for teenage pregnancy policy as part of their wider roles.
	The latest year for which final annual conceptions data are available is 2010. Between 2000 and 2010, the teenage pregnancy rate (women aged under 18) in England fell by 19% from 43.6 conceptions per thousand women aged 15-17 in 2000 to 35.4 in 2010.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing Countries: Trade

Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the removal of trade barriers facing exports from the poorest countries to the markets of developed countries will be included in the agenda for the G8 in 2013.

Alan Duncan: The UK will use its G8 presidency to make the case for further trade liberalisation across the world. We will continue to play a leading role in helping the poorest countries integrate into the global economy. The UK will continue to urge both developed and emerging economies to provide the poorest countries full access to their markets, as the EU already does.

DEFENCE

Annington Homes

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether the discount rate given to his Department on rent levels in those former homes of his Department purchased by Annington Homes will continue if Annington Homes is sold;
	(2)  whether officials in his Department have had any communication with Terra Firma on their interest in buying Annington Homes.

Mark Francois: The purchase of Annington Homes Ltd (AHL) by Terra Firma is a matter for the companies concerned and does not affect the terms of the agreement with the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
	To the best of my knowledge there has been no communication between MOD officials and Terra Firma regarding their interest in buying AHL.

Armed Forces: Coeliac Disease

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people with coeliac disease have been discharged from the (a) Royal Air Force, (b) Army and (c) Royal Navy in each year since 2010.

Mark Francois: holding answer 18 December 2012
	Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2012 (the latest date for which data are available) there were less than five UK Regular Army personnel and less than five UK Regular Naval Service personnel medically discharged with a principal or contributory cause of coeliac disease. No UK Regular RAF personnel were medically discharged with a principal or contributory cause of coeliac disease.

Armed Forces: Coeliac Disease

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) internal discussions have taken place in and (b) representations have been received by his Department on rules applying to deployment of serving personnel who are diagnosed with coeliac disease while in service.

Mark Francois: holding answer 18 December 2012
	MOD policy regarding service personnel presented with coeliac disease has recently been reviewed by the Joint Service Publication 950 Medical Employment Standards Working Group, and has been staffed and accepted, and is now awaiting publication. Internal consultations have taken place between, among others: Headquarters Surgeon General, the Medical Employment Standards (MES) Working Group (including Consultant Occupational Physicians from each of the single Services, Defence Consultant Advisors in Medicine and Surgery) and the Surgeon General's Medical Policy Steering Group.
	When developing policy, the MES Working Group does not seek specific input from special interest groups, as this would be impracticable. However, policy is developed in light of current medical evidence including guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and with specialist input from the appropriate Defence Consultant Advisers and/or Civilian Consultant Advisers. If specific issues are raised by external bodies including special interest groups, these are staffed appropriately, and may be discussed at the MES Working Group.

Armed Forces: Coeliac Disease

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's rules are for deployment of serving personnel who are diagnosed with coeliac disease while in service.

Mark Francois: holding answer 18 December 2012
	Service personnel who present significant conditions of the alimentary system such as coeliac, which either degrades the functional capacity and performance, and/or fails to respond satisfactorily to treatment, may require to be downgraded non-deployable, or recommended for medical discharge. Each case is considered on its individual merit.
	Service supply chains cannot guarantee access to a gluten free diet for service personnel in all circumstances, especially on operations. It is not possible to guarantee an individual's ability to self police an exclusion diet through labelling or identification of trigger constituents. This poses an unacceptable risk to the individual, and to their colleagues on operations.

Armed Forces: Health Services

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has contributed to assist injured service personnel with care and rehabilitation in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13 to date.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence provides a broad range of medical care, treatment and rehabilitation services delivered through a combination of military and contracted (with the NHS and private sectors) medical capabilities. The aim is to provide entitled armed forces personnel who have been injured (e.g. on operations, exercises/training etc) with world class treatment and rehabilitation that best meets the medical needs of the service person and the occupational needs of their service.
	The Department spend by financial years for the care and rehabilitation of injured service personnel is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year £ million 
			 2010-11 101.277 
			 2011-12 108.873 
			 2012-13 to end of November 2012 63.491 
		
	
	The figures above cover the following elements of care provision and are based on audited costs for FY 2010-11 and FY 2011-12 and estimated costs for FY 2012-13:
	Acute medical care at The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine
	Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court—including complex trauma rehabilitation and neurological rehabilitation
	Regional rehabilitation units.
	Other facilities also treat and rehabilitate injured personnel, but it is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to break down the costs for treating injured personnel with other episodes of care that do not relate to injuries.

Armed Forces: Rape

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many allegations of rape have been reported to the Ministry of Defence Police in each year since 2000.

Mark Francois: Allegations of rape may have been reported to the service police or to civil police. Allegations reported to the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Rape 
			 2000 13 
			 2001 29 
			 2002 31 
			 2003 18 
			 2004 16 
			 2005 20 
			 2006 16 
			 2007 24 
			 2008 14 
			 2009 (1)9 
			 2010 (1)6 
			 2011 (1)1 
			 2012 (1)2 
			 (1) In accordance with the Home Office National Crime Recording Standard, the MDP (and other forces) are mandated to record crime reported to them. Since 2009, any allegations of rape in England and Wales received by the MDP have been referred to either the service police or to the local civil police for investigation. Similar arrangements also exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Clyde Shipyards

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was paid from the public purse to shipyards on the River Clyde in (a) 1997, (b) 2005, (c) 2010 and (d) 2012 to date.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) no longer holds records of the amount paid to BAE Systems Maritime—Naval Ships (BAES MNS) Govan and Scotstoun shipyards on the River Clyde in 1997. In financial year (FY) 2005-06 the MOD paid £337 million, in FY 2010-11 the amount was £513 million and for the current financial year (beginning April 2012), the amount to November 2012 is £287 million. These figures cover expenditure on the Type 45 Destroyer and Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier programmes.
	A contract valued at £127 million was awarded to BAES MNS for the Assessment Phase of the Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme in 2010. Work under this contract is being carried out at a number of sites, including the Govan shipyard, but it is not possible separately to identify the payments by location.

Defence Equipment

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the statement of 14 May 2012, Official Report, columns 261-4, on defence budget and transformation, whether any of the contingency funding for defence equipment and support has been allocated.

Philip Dunne: During the course of Planning Round 12 a small proportion of the overall contingency provision was allocated. I am withholding details of the amount and the projects concerned as their release would be prejudicial to the Department's commercial interests.
	During the course of Annual Business Cycle 13, the Department is reviewing the level of contingency in the light of our current understanding of the risk position in our major procurement projects. This will inform a decision on the levels of contingency we will require in the future.

Defence: Expenditure

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent on Urgent Operational Requirements by (a) theatre and (b) equipment type in each of the last 10 years; and which such funding was provided from a Treasury budget.

Philip Dunne: The required information is not held in the format requested prior to financial year 2008-09. The amount spent on Urgent Operational Requirements (UOR) and claimed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) against the HM Treasury Reserve, since financial year 2008-09 is presented in the following table.
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Theatre 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Afghanistan 838 774 794 415 
			 Iraq 223 45 -3 0 
			 Total operations and peace-keeping UOR spend 1,061 819 791 415 
		
	
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Equipment type Theatre 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Helicopter (Ground Attack, Tactile Transport—Aircraft and aircrew protection) Afghanistan 95 133 95 46 
			  Iraq 33 7 2 0 
			  Total 128 140 97 46 
			 Aircraft (Ground Attack, Strategic and Tactile Transport—Aircraft and aircrew protection) Afghanistan 72 48 12 21 
			  Iraq 10 1 0 0 
			  Total 83 49 12 21 
		
	
	
		
			 Soldier equipment (protection, clothing, combat equipment) Afghanistan 62 73 52 13 
			  Iraq 9 5 0 0 
			  Total 72 78 52 13 
			 Communications (voice and data transfer) Afghanistan 0 26 54 15 
			  Iraq 0 0 0 0 
			  Total 0 27 54 15 
			 ISTAR—Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance Afghanistan 25 69 50 81 
			  Iraq 13 0 0 0 
			  Total 38 69 50 81 
			 Ground manoeuvre (protected mobility) Afghanistan 436 252 351 78 
			  Iraq 87 5 -1 0 
			  Total 523 257 350 78 
			 Fire power (guns, missiles and rockets) Afghanistan 4 11 28 3 
			  Iraq 5 2 0 0 
			  Total 9 12 28 3 
			 Protection (C-IED/military working dogs, soldier protection (ECM)) Afghanistan 68 90 79 99 
			  Iraq 20 17 0 0 
			  Total 88 107 79 99 
			 Sustainment (medical, battlefield utilities) Afghanistan 0 9 8 11 
			  Iraq 0 0 0 0 
			  Total 1 9 8 II 
			 Unmanned aerial vehicles Afghanistan 44 25 11 1 
			  Iraq 17 0 0 0 
			  Total 61 26 II 1 
			 Information management/Information exploitation Afghanistan 31 36 54 48 
			  Iraq 25 5 -3 0 
			  Total 55 41 50 48 
			 Maritime (ship electronic warfare) Iraq 3 3 0 0 
			  Total 3 3 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Total operations and peace-keeping UOR spend  1,061 819 791 415 
			 Notes: 1. All figures rounded to nearest £ million. 2. The negative figures presented against Iraq in financial year 2010-11 relate to the final reconciliation of project accounts.

Defence: Procurement

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many defence equipment contracts his Department has sought to renegotiate since May 2010.

Philip Dunne: holding answer 18 December 2012
	I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Alison Seabeck) on 8 October 2012, Official Report, column 665W.

Defence: Procurement

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the total cost is of his Single Integrated Priority List;
	(2)  what platforms are on the Single Integrated Priority List.

Philip Dunne: holding answer 18 December 2012
	I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Peter Luff), on 3 September 2012, Official Report, column 46W, to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson).

Devonport Dockyard

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the projected cost is of the Future Nuclear Facilities programme for refurbishing the submarine refit complex at Devonport Dockyard.

Philip Dunne: The total estimated cost of the Future Nuclear Facilities programme for refurbishing the submarine refit complex at Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport is £243 million, which provides the capability to defuel the Swiftsure and Trafalgar class nuclear-powered attack submarines, and enables the ongoing deep maintenance of the Trafalgar class and, in time, the Astute class nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Guided Weapons

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost to his Department is of the (a) light and (b) heavy future air-to-surface guided weapons.

Philip Dunne: To protect our commercial position, the Department does not normally publish cost estimates in advance of main investment decision points, which are planned for both Future Anti Surface Guided Weapon Light and Heavy missiles in 2013.

ICT

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment were lost or stolen from his Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence takes any theft of, loss of, attacks on, or misuse of, its information, networks and associated media storage devices very seriously and has robust procedures in place to mitigate against and investigate such occurrences. Furthermore, new processes, instructions and technological aids are continually being implemented to mitigate human errors and raise the awareness of every individual in the Department.
	The following table shows the number of reported lost or stolen computers, mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and other pieces of IT equipment centrally reported within the Department in financial year (FY) 2010-11 and FY 2011-12 as of 6 December 2012.
	
		
			 Items FY 2010-11 FY 2011-12 
			 Computers 371 206 
			 Mobile Telephones 3 24 
			 BlackBerrys 4 34 
			 Other IT 537 794 
		
	
	Following thorough investigations, the Joint Security Co-ordination Centre has not received any evidence that demonstrates that the information has been compromised. A significant number of the incidents involve information that had been encrypted to government standards and, while the data was lost, the chance of compromise of encrypted information is deemed to be minimal.

Immigration

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the additional cost of the delivery of those public services for which his Department is responsible arising from inward migration since 1997.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence provides services to the nation as a whole, rather than to individuals per se. It would therefore be impossible to quantify any extra costs arising from inward migration since 1997, if such costs existed.

Katrice Lee

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the outcome was of the meeting on 13 November 2012 on Royal Military Police premises between the Minister for the Armed Forces, representatives of the Royal Military Police, the hon. Member for Gosport and the mother and sister of Katrice Lee regarding the disappearance of Katrice Lee in November 1981; what action points arose from the meeting; what admissions were made by the Royal Military Police in respect of the initial investigation into Katrice Lee's disappearance; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: I wrote to my hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Caroline Dinenage) on 20 December 2012 about this meeting and I will write to the hon. Member shortly as well.
	However, the Royal Military Police have now acknowledged that the previous investigations were flawed, and have sincerely apologised to Katrice's family for these failings. The Royal Military Police have also undertaken, at an appropriate point, to ask an independent civilian police force to review their findings.

Merlin Helicopters

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what date the transfer of RAF Merlin MK3s to the Fleet Air Arm will be complete.

Philip Dunne: It is currently planned that responsibility for the Merlin Mk 3/3a will transfer from the Royal Air Force to the Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force in financial year 2014-15.

Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of reductions in Ministry of Defence police numbers on Scotland;
	(2)  how many Ministry of Defence police officers there were in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Mark Francois: The number of MDP officers in Scotland were as follows:
	
		
			  Ministry of Defence police strength in Scotland 
			 2008-09 821 
			 2009-10 835 
			 2010-11 823 
			 2011-12 789 
			 2012-13 711 
		
	
	The reduction in strength is due to a force-wide recruitment freeze that was introduced in August 2009 and a MOD Voluntary Early Release Scheme which began on 1 April 2010 and is ongoing until 31 March 2014.
	The MOD continues to maintain effective security at its defence establishments in Scotland and, in particular, its nuclear bases in the Clyde and Coulport.

Pensions

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) permanent and (b) casual members of staff in his Department do not receive contributions for their pensions.

Mark Francois: holding answer 12 December 2012
	All permanent and casual members of staff have the option to be in one of the Civil Service Pension Schemes. 123 members of the Department's staff have opted out of these schemes and no employer's contributions are made to their pensions. 82 of these are permanent employees and 38 are casual members of staff with a further three on fixed term appointments exceeding two years.

Public Expenditure

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effects of the changes announced in the autumn statement on the affordability of his Department's (a) equipment programme and (b) science and technology budget; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The autumn statement had no effect on the core equipment programme.
	The Department has committed to maintain science and technology spending at 1.2% of the overall Defence budget. That commitment is also unchanged by the autumn statement.

Public Expenditure

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total size was of the unallocated provisions in his Department's budget in 2011-12.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 18 December 2012
	Nil; we started making unallocated provision from 2012-13.

Radioactive Materials

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on the purchase of special nuclear materials in each of the last 10 years.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has not purchased any special nuclear materials in the last 10 years.

Staff

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees, (b) outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff and (c) staff training in each of the last 12 months.

Mark Francois: External recruitment to the Ministry of Defence for grades below the senior civil service is carried out by Defence Business Services (DBS). Where external recruitment for senior civil service level posts is required, recruitment agencies may be asked to carry out an initial search for suitable candidates. In financial year (FY) 2011-12 the Ministry of Defence spent £81,380 on recruitment agency fees in connection with SCS level recruitment.
	Support to staff who are leaving the Ministry of Defence on redundancy or voluntary release includes access to the outplacement service (MODOPS). MODOPS is a contractor-operated service which helps staff to find work outside the civil service, giving guidance on subjects including job-searching, CV writing, interview preparation and financial planning. Expenditure under MODOPS for FY 2011 -12 was £251,900.
	The Defence Academy is the primary provider of training and education to civilian personnel, both through courses run on-site, and through the provision of e-learning, including the running of the Defence e-learning centres. Specialist and functional training is also procured from a range of external suppliers. Some training is delivered locally, usually by civilian or military staff for whom training is not a full-time responsibility, but the costs of locally delivered training are not separately identified and could only be compiled at disproportionate cost. Details of expenditure on staff training in FY 2011-12 are not available. However, the Defence Academy outturn for FY 2011-12 was £115 million, compared with £118.6 million in FY 2010-11 and £124.4 million in FY 2009-10.

Surveys

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the cost of the survey was.

Mark Francois: The results of the October 2012 Ministry of Defence staff survey will be placed in the Library of the House on 31 January 2013 when the results are published on our website.
	The cost of the survey for the Ministry of Defence and participating agencies will be approximately £120,000. The exact cost will be known in the spring. The MOD has participated in the Civil Service People Survey carried out across the entire civil service since 2009. The survey is carried out by ORC International Ltd. This approach, which is managed by the Cabinet Office, delivers strong efficiencies through economies of scale by eliminating previously duplicated effort and project management and realises strong value for money.
	The cost of the 2012 survey across the civil service is expected to be 63% lower than what was spent separately by Departments and agencies in 2008-09 on their own staff surveys.

Trident

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many employees of (a) BAE Systems, (b) Babcock Marine and (c) Rolls-Royce have been seconded to his Department to work on the Trident replacement design programme.

Philip Dunne: No BAE Systems employees have been seconded to the Ministry of Defence to work on the Successor Submarine Programme.
	One Babcock Marine full-time and two part-time employees and one Rolls- Royce employee have been seconded to work on the programme.

Trident

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of operation of a continuous at-sea deterrent replacement system over the likely lifespan of such a system.

Philip Dunne: holding answer 18 December 2012
	As stated in the White Paper, The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent (Cm 6994) published in December 2006, we expect that once the new successor nuclear deterrent submarine comes into service the in-service costs of the UK's nuclear deterrent, which will include Atomic Weapons Establishment's costs, will be similar to today (around 5% to 6% of the defence budget).

Trident

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is for the cost of design and build for a replacement continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent system.

Philip Dunne: holding answer 18 December 2012
	Current forecast costs, including planned Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme efficiency measures, indicate that we remain within the 2006 White Paper estimates of £11 billion to £14 billion (at 2006-07 prices) for the Successor platform costs (assuming a four boat fleet).

Trident Missiles

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2012, Official Report , column 238W, on Trident missiles, what the cost was of the (a) recent refit and (b) post refit Demonstration and Shakedown Operation for HMS Vigilant; and what the cost is of an individual Trident D5 missile to the UK.

Philip Dunne: The cost of HMS Vigilant's recent long overhaul period (refuelling) (LOP(R)) and the demonstration and shakedown operation (DASO) are still being finalised. However, the LOP(R) is expected to be around £345 million. The cost of the DASO for HMS Vigilant is expected to be approximately £15.6 million. The current net book value of a Trident D5 missile is £8.86 million.

Trident Missiles

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost was of the programme management and engineering services contract between the Royal Navy and Lockheed Martin for support to the Trident D5 missile system in each of the last three years.

Philip Dunne: I am withholding the information as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 3 December 2012, Official Report, column 616W, on unmanned air vehicles, what consideration his Department has given in the development of Maritime Unmanned Aerial Systems Strategy to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to tackle illegal piracy and fishing in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Philip Dunne: The maritime unmanned air systems strategy paper will consider potential future capability needs for unmanned air systems, but it will not consider in detail their use in particular scenarios.

Vetting

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 10 December 2012, Official Report, column 40W, on vetting, what (a) safeguards, (b) processes and (c) checks his Department and its agencies put in place prior to the introduction of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 and subsequently by its suppliers to prevent blacklisting of employees on construction projects.

Mark Francois: It has been the long-standing policy of the Ministry of Defence to include provisions in its contracts requiring suppliers to abide by the law, to adhere to principles of equality and to ensure that these requirements are included in any sub-contracts.

Vetting

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 10 December 2012, Official Report, column 40W, on vetting, what representations on blacklisting his Department received prior to the introduction of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010.

Mark Francois: To the best of my knowledge there have been no representations made on blacklisting prior to the introduction of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010.

World War I: Anniversaries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to encourage greater archive accessibility at military museums in the lead-up to the centenary of the First World War;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to encourage co-operation between national and local military museums in the lead-up to the centenary of the First World War.

Andrew Murrison: The information requested will take time to collate. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

TRANSPORT

Airports: Israel

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what agreements the Civil Aviation Authority has with the Israeli government regarding the presence of Israeli security agents at UK airports.

Simon Burns: The Civil Aviation Authority has no such agreements.

Bus Services: North East

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many route change submissions Stagecoach has made to the North Eastern Traffic Commissioner since 1 January 2012.

Stephen Hammond: There are six operator licences held by entities trading as Stagecoach. Since 1 January 2012 they have submitted four applications to cancel a local bus service registration, eight registrations for new local bus services, and 26 applications to vary an existing local bus service registration to the North Eastern Traffic Commissioner.

Bus Services: North East

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many route change submissions (a) Go North East, (b) Stagecoach and (c) Arriva have made to the North Eastern Traffic Commissioner each year between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2011.

Stephen Hammond: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency holds electronic records on behalf of the Traffic Commissioners who are responsible for issuing and regulating licences. To obtain records for 2001 would invoke disproportionate cost. However, the subsequent years are in the following table:
	
		
			  Cancellations New applications Vary an existing application Grand total 
			 (a) Go North East     
			 2002 19 27 49 95 
			 2003 63 41 177 281 
			 2004 99 100 220 419 
			 2005 40 61 272 373 
			 2006 103 38 296 437 
			 2007 36 70 211 317 
			 2008 80 142 193 415 
			 2009 74 62 225 361 
			 2010 83 67 278 428 
			 2011 59 75 212 346 
			 Grand total 656 683 2,133 3,472 
			      
			 (b) Stagecoach     
			 2002 49 69 204 322 
			 2003 81 51 342 474 
			 2004 58 36 323 417 
			 2005 72 55 388 515 
			 2006 86 31 281 398 
			 2007 71 33 296 400 
			 2008 56 21 248 325 
			 2009 61 41 773 875 
			 2010 39 39 226 304 
			 2011 24 25 251 300 
			 Grand total 597 401 3,332 4,330 
			      
			 (c) Arriva     
			 2002 47 17 175 239 
			 2003 33 51 178 262 
			 2004 38 28 94 160 
			 2005 68 39 155 262 
			 2006 54 39 204 297 
			 2007 26 24 166 216 
			 2008 58 62 136 256 
			 2009 42 43 122 207 
			 2010 70 37 107 214 
			 2011 43 64 191 298 
		
	
	
		
			 Grand total 479 404 1,528 2,411

Fuels

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of (a) the relative calorific values of (i) E10 fuel and (ii) petrol and (b) the potential effect of introduction of E10 fuel on the retail price of petrol.

Norman Baker: E10 is a petrol-ethanol blend of up to 10% ethanol and is not yet available in the UK. Most petrol sold in the UK contains up to 5% ethanol. Ethanol's energy content is lower than that of petrol (petrol's energy content is 32MJ per litre while ethanol's energy content is 21MJ per litre). This means that E10 has a lower energy density than E5 (about 2% less energy per litre of fuel). Vehicles will be able to travel slightly further with a tank full of E5 than a tank full of E10.
	It is for fuel retailers to determine the price of the different products that they sell. However, it seems unlikely that E10 would be priced higher than E5, as there is no requirement on suppliers to change the product they sell.

Gospel Oak-Barking Railway Line

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent (a) information, (b) advice and (c) reports he has received on the case for electrification of the Barking to Gospel Oak section of the North London Line; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Although there is no new funding available, the Department is working with Transport for London and Network Rail to review the case for electrification. A detailed breakdown of the £90 million cost of electrification has been provided by Network Rail. Transport for London has provided its business case for using longer electric passenger trains and has offered £25 million towards the cost of electrification.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2012, Official Report, column 684W, on High Speed 2 railway line, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) gross and (b) net expenditure on (i) the safeguarding zone and (ii) the voluntary purchase zone as part of the proposed compensation scheme for High Speed 2 if no change were to be made to the proposals currently out for consultation.

Simon Burns: Further to the answer of 4 December 2012, Official Report, column 684W, on High Speed 2 Railway Line, the costs would depend entirely on the extent to which householders and others take up the options open to them.

Large Goods Vehicles: Licensing

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to extend the range of statutory consultees on the grant of operator licences by Traffic Commissioners to include parish councils; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: There are no plans to extend the range of statutory consultees to include parish councils. At this time I am satisfied that in the majority of cases the systems work well and therefore have no plans to change the legislation.

Rescue Services

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will undertake an independent assessment of steps required to reduce any risk to the safety of remaining regular coastguards, those working in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency headquarters and volunteers.

Stephen Hammond: An independent assessment is not required. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency keeps risks to the safety of its staff and volunteers under constant review, and takes remedial and mitigating actions as necessary.

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish details of staffing at the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (a) between 2006 and 2011, (b) in 2012 and (c) between 2013 and 2018.

Stephen Hammond: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency publishes its staff numbers in its Annual Report. Staff numbers between 2013 and 2018 have yet to be agreed. Staffing numbers from 2006-12 are as follows:
	
		
			 As at 31 March: Number 
			 2012 2,131 
			 2011 2,272 
			 2010 2,497 
			 2009 2,771 
			 2008 2,635 
			 2007 2,626 
			 2006 2,708

CABINET OFFICE

Construction

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people are employed in the construction sector in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning how many people are employed in the construction sector in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England.
	Annual statistics on the number of employees are available from the ONS release Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) at:
	www.ons.gov.uk
	The following table contains the latest figures available, which show the number of employees in the construction industry for Barnsley Central constituency, the former metropolitan county of South Yorkshire and England for 2011.
	
		
			  Employees in 2011 
			 Barnsley Central 1,900 
			 Former Metropolitan County of South Yorkshire 27,400 
			 England 1,032,400

Job Creation

Pat Glass: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many jobs created in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency have been either (i) part-time or (ii) on temporary contracts since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many jobs created in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency have been either (i) part-time or (ii) on temporary contracts since May 2010 (134615)
	ONS compiles Labour Market Statistics following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions for areas smaller than the UK from the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	Information regarding jobs created is not available. As an alternative we have provided estimates of the number of people who were employed part-time or employed in jobs that were not permanent according to survey responses during the 12 month periods ending June 2010, the survey period closest to May 2010, and June 2012, along with the net change between these two periods. This net change provides a reasonable approximation of the number of jobs created since May 2010.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of people employed part-time (1) 
			 Thousand 
			  Level  
			  12 months ending  
			  June 2010 June 2012 (2) Change between 12 month periods ending June 2010 and June 2012 
			 North West Durham 10 ***11 1 
		
	
	
		
			 County Durham 54 **57 3 
			 North East 298 *304 6 
			 England 6,465 *6,605 140 
			 (1) Part-time in main job. (2) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 = CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV = 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Note: All estimates are independently rounded. Source: Annual Population Survey

Mental Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment he has made of the level of happiness in each constituent part of the UK.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012
	As Director-General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment he has made of the level of happiness in each constituent part of the UK. 134649
	In April 2011 ONS introduced four subjective well-being questions onto the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS). The four questions are as follows:
	Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
	Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
	Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
	Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
	All were answered on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘completely’.
	The table shows results to the four subjective well-being questions by the four constituent countries of the UK and by English region.
	In July 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a report entitled ‘First ONS Annual Experimental Subjective Well-being Results’. This report is available from the following web link:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/wellbeing/measuring-subjective-wellbeing-in-the-uk/first-annual-ons-experimental-subjective-well-being-results/first-ons-annual-experimental-subjective-well-being-results.html
	
		
			 Life satisfaction, worthwhile, happy yesterday and anxious yesterday thresholds (1) : by constituent UK countries and English regions, April 2011 to March 2012 (2,3) 
			 Percentage 
			  Life satisfaction Worthwhile Happy yesterday Anxious yesterday 
			  0-6 7-10 0-6 7-10 0-6 7-10 0-3 4-1 
			 United Kingdom 24.1 75.9 20.0 80.0 28.9 71.1 60.1 39.9 
			 Great Britain 24.2 75.8 20.0 80.0 29.0 71.0 60.0 40.0 
			 England 24.3 75.7 20.1 79.9 29.0 71.0 59.9 40.1 
			 North East 24.6 75.4 21.2 78.8 30.9 69.1 58.2 41.8 
			 North West 25.3 74.7 20.6 79.4 30.4 69.6 59.1 40.9 
			 Yorkshire and The Humber 24.7 75.3 20.0 80.0 29.7 70.3 60.4 39.6 
			 East Midlands 23.4 76.6 19.4 80.6 28.6 71.4 59.7 40.3 
			 West Midlands 27.1 72.9 '22.7 77.3 31.2 68.8 61.4 38.6 
			 East of England 23.0 77.0 18.7 81.3 26.7 73.3 61.6 38.4 
			 London 27.2 72.8 22.6 77.4 30.6 69.4 55.5 44.5 
			 South East 21.5 78.5 17.8 82.2 27.2 72.8 61.2 38.8 
			 South West 21.8 78.2 18.3 81.7 26.9 73.1 62.3 37.7 
			 Wales 25.3 74.7 20.3 79.7 29.0 71.0 59.9 40.1 
			 Scotland 22.6 77.4 19.4 80.6 28.8 71.2 61.2 38.8 
			 Northern Ireland 21.9 78.1 18.9 81.1 26.0 74.0 64.5 35.5 
			 (1 )Thresholds: Proportions of respondents reporting low (0-6) and high (7-10) ratings for life satisfaction, worthwhile and happy yesterday questions and low (0-3) and high (4-10) ratings for the anxious yesterday question. (2 )All data weighted. (3) Non-respondents not included. Source: April 2011 to March 2012, Annual Population Survey Subjective Well-being Experimental dataset, ONS

Wines

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the current valuation is of wine kept for use at occasions hosted by the Prime Minister.

Francis Maude: None is kept.

TREASURY

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the potential effect on tax revenues of any prohibition on multi-buy alcohol promotions.

Sajid Javid: No estimate of the effect on the Exchequer for a ban on multi-buy alcohol promotions is available.
	The Government is currently consulting on a ban on multi-buy alcohol promotions, including analysis of its effects on retailers, consumers and the Exchequer.
	HMRC has also commissioned research into consumer responses to pricing and promotion restrictions, and it will be completed in 2013.

Business: Loans

Bill Esterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the total net lending of banks who have signed up to the Government's Funding for Lending scheme has increased since it was introduced.

Greg Clark: Total net lending by banks participating in the Funding for Lending Scheme increased by £0.5 billion in the third quarter of 2012. The Bank of England will provide an update to these data in March.

Child Benefit

Margot James: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many households that receive child benefit have (a) one child, (b) two children, (c) three children, (d) four children, (e) five children, (f) six children, (g) seven children and (h) eight or more children.

Sajid Javid: The following table details the numbers requested. This is based on the latest published data —August 2011.
	
		
			 Number of children Number of families 
			 One child 3,720,160 
			 Two children 2,940,120 
			 Three children 902,250 
			 Four children 236,890 
			 Five children 59,050 
			 Six children 17,445 
			 Seven children 5,835 
			 Eight or more children 3,015 
		
	
	Child benefit statistics are published once a year and can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/child-geog-stats.htm#2
	Statistics for August 2012 will be published in early 2013.

Child Benefit

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will put in place contingency measures to assist individuals in households affected by the higher income child benefit charge who may be unclear about their ongoing entitlement to national insurance credits for state pension purposes; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The high income child benefit charge does not affect entitlement to national insurance credits. This is set out on the HMRC website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefitcharge/introduction.htm#5

Employment

Pat Glass: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of job growth has been in (a) England, (b) the north-east, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the likely level of such growth in each of the next three financial years.

Sajid Javid: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) employment statistics for County Durham and north-west Durham are not available back to 1997. Table 1 shows growth in the employment level each year from the year to June 2005. Estimates of employment at the county and constituency level are more volatile than estimates for larger geographic areas, reflecting the small sample size for survey respondents. Employment increased in County Durham decreased by 0.9% between the year to June 2011 and the year to June 2012, while north-west Durham decreased by 10.3%.
	Employment increased by 4.1% in the north-east over the year to the three months to October 2012 and by 1.9% in England (Table 2).
	The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for employment forecasts, which are only available at the UK level. Employment is projected to rise in every year of the OBR's December 2012 ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’. In the next three financial years employment in the UK is forecast to increase from 29.6 million in this financial year to 30 million in 2015-16.
	
		
			 Table 1: Growth in employment level, age 16+ 
			 Percentage 
			  County Durham North-west Durham 
			 Year to June 2005 to year to June 2006 1.5 -2.7 
			 Year to June 2006 to year to June 2007 6.8 24.7 
			 Year to June 2007 to year to June 2008 -2.4 -5.7 
			 Year to June 2008 to year to June 2009 -0.1 2.6 
			 Year to June 2009 to year to June 2010 -3.1 -1.1 
			 Year to June 2010 to year to June 2011 1.9 -6.0 
			 Year to June 2011 to year to June 2012 -0.9 -10.3 
			 Source: ONS 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Growth in employment level, age 16+ 
			 Percentage 
			  North-east England 
			 Three months to October 1997 to three months to October 1998 -2.0 1.3 
			 Three months to October 1998 to three months to October 1999 0.0 1.2 
			 Three months to October 1999 to three months to October 2000 3.3 1.2 
			 Three months to October 2000 to three months to October 2001 0.2 0.7 
			 Three months to October 2001 to three months to October 2002 0.5 0.9 
			 Three months to October 2002 to three months to October 2003 0.9 0.6 
		
	
	
		
			 Three months to October 2003 to three months to October 2004 1.6 0.8 
			 Three months to October 2004 to three months to October 2005 0.6 1.2 
			 Three months to October 2005 to three months to October 2006 2.2 0.8 
			 Three months to October 2006 to three months to October 2007 1.9 0.7 
			 Three months to October 2007 to three months to October 2008 -1.0 0.2 
			 Three months to October 2008 to three months to October 2009 -2.8 -1.5 
			 Three months to October 2009 to three months to October 2010 2.6 0.9 
			 Three months to October 2010 to three months to October 2011 -1.7 -0.1 
			 Three months to October 2011 to three months to October 2012 4.1 1.9 
			 Source: ONS

Employment

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of job growth was in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) England in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of such growth in each of the next three years.

Sajid Javid: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) employment statistics for Haltemprice and Howden are not available back to 1997. Table 1 shows growth in the employment level each year from the year to June 2005. Estimates of employment at the constituency level are more volatile than estimates for larger geographic areas, reflecting the small sample size for survey respondents. Employment increased in Haltemprice and Howden by 10.1% between the year to June 2011 and the year to June 2012.
	Employment increased by 3.9% in Yorkshire and the Humber over the year to the three months to October 2012 and by 1.9% in England (Table 2).
	The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for employment forecasts, which are only available at the UK level. Employment is projected to rise in every year of the OBR's December 2012 economic and fiscal outlook. In the next three financial years employment in the UK is forecast to increase from 29.6 million in this financial year to 30 million in 2015-16.
	
		
			 Table 1: Growth in employment level, age 16+ 
			 Percentage 
			  Haltemprice and Howden 
			 Year to June 2005 to Year to June 2006 -11.2 
			 Year to June 2006 to Year to June 2007 1.6 
			 Year to June 2007 to Year to June 2008 0.8 
			 Year to June 2008 to Year to June 2009 -1.5 
			 Year to June 2009 to Year to June 2010 12.0 
			 Year to June 2010 to Year to June 2011 -5.6 
			 Year to June 2011 to Year to June 2012 10.1 
			 Source: ONS 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Growth in employment level, age 16+ 
			 Percentage 
			  Yorkshire and The Humber England 
			 Three months to October 1997 to three months to October 1998 0.9 1.3 
			 Three months to October 1998 to three months to October 1999 1.7 1.2 
			 Three months to October 1999 to three months to October 2000 1.3 1.2 
			 Three months to October 2000 to three months to October 2001 -0.2 0.7 
			 Three months to October 2001 to three months to October 2002 1.8 0.9 
			 Three months to October 2002 to three months to October 2003 1.7 0.6 
			 Three months to October 2003 to three months to October 2004 2.2 0.8 
			 Three months to October 2004 to three months to October 2005 0.6 1.2 
			 Three months to October 2005 to three months to October 2006 0.5 0.8 
			 Three months to October 2006 to three months to October 2007 1.1 0.7 
			 Three months to October 2007 to three months to October 2008 0.1 0.2 
			 Three months to October 2008 to three months to October 2009 -1.7 -1.5 
			 Three months to October 2009 to three months to October 2010 -0.3 0.9 
			 Three months to October 2010 to three months to October 2011 0.2 -0.1 
			 Three months to October 2011 to three months to October 2012 3.9 1.9 
			 Source: ONS

Excise Duties: Fuels

Katy Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the island water fuel duty discount pilot on the price of water fuel sold on islands;
	(2)  if he will consider the merits of increasing the rate of discount applicable to the island water fuel duty discount scheme.

Sajid Javid: Motorists on the Scottish islands and the Isles of Scilly are benefitting from the 5p per litre discount on pump prices since the Government introduced the rural fuel rebate pilot scheme earlier this year.
	The Government will consider whether to seek EU approval for an extension of the scheme to other remote parts of the UK that are likely to display similar characteristics to the islands.

Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme: North East

Pat Glass: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how many charities operating in (a) the north-east, (b) County Durham and (c) North West Durham constituency will be eligible for the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme.

Sajid Javid: HM Revenue and Customs does not separately identify Gift Aid claims by regions of the UK and will not be able to do so for the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme.
	Amounts of top-up payments paid under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme will be published on the HMRC website in due course.

Internet

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for his Department's websites in each of the last two years; and how much has been allocated for each such category of expenditure in 2012-13.

Sajid Javid: The Treasury has spent the following amounts on its website in the years requested:
	
		
			 Website Spend (£) 
			 2010-11  
			 Strategy and planning 0 
			 Design and build 20,000 
			 Hosting and infrastructure 131,000 
			 Content provision 0 
			 Testing and evaluation 20,000 
			   
			 2011-12  
			 Strategy and planning 0 
			 Design and build 0 
			 Hosting and infrastructure 131,000 
			 Content provision 0 
			 Testing and evaluation 0 
			   
			 2012-13  
			 Strategy and planning 0 
			 Design and build 0 
			 Hosting and infrastructure 131,000 
			 Content provision 0 
			 Testing and evaluation 0

Money Lenders

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Financial Services Authority has taken recent steps to investigate and prosecute illegal money lending.

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Financial Services Authority is not responsible for tackling illegal money lending. Until April 2012 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills directly funded trading standards to take on complex cases which crossed individual local authority boundaries. This included setting up Tackling Illegal Money Lending Teams for England, Wales and Scotland.
	On 1 April 2012, the Government published its response to the consultation on Empowering and Protecting Consumers, which set out the decision to establish a National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) for England and Wales. During 2012-13, the NTSB has continued to fund the delivery of the Illegal Money Lending Team in England, while the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) fund provision in Scotland.
	Between April 2004 and April 2012, the projects had:
	Identified over 2,500 illegal money lenders and arrested over 600 illegal money lenders and secured over 220 prosecutions, resulting in prison sentencing totalling over 117 years—some cases were connected to other, more serious criminal activity which took precedence over illegal money lending prosecutions.
	Seized over £2.1 million in cash.
	Identified over £28 million of assets that could be seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
	Helped over 16,000 victims of loan sharks.

Northern Rock

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advice or directions were given by Ministers to UK Asset Resolution about the timing of its announcement on Northern Rock remediation payments.

Sajid Javid: The UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) Board formally notified UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) of its proposal on 5 December. Ministers were made aware of the proposal on the same day. The UKAR proposal was agreed by UKFI in a letter to UKAR on 10 December. UKFI sought and was granted Treasury approval on 10 December.

PAYE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of PAYE submissions made in the real time information pilot have been unmatched through (a) being submitted late and (b) including the wrong payment amount since the inception of the pilot.

David Gauke: The information requested is not currently available.
	There are a variety of reasons why RTI submissions may not be matched to a hash cross reference received from the payment system.
	Hashes received for schemes that have recently joined the RTI system cannot be matched where the PAYE scheme is still going through the RTI alignment process. HMRC have also indentified that in some cases hash cross references are being included in RTI submissions where the employer is not paying their employees under a BACS service user number. Hash matching is not possible in these cases. HMRC is using the RTI pilot to refine its guidance to employers and software developers about hash matching.

Secondment

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals employed by (a) major UK utility companies, (b) Energy UK or (c) any related energy utility organisation have been seconded to his Department since May 2010.

Sajid Javid: Since May 2010 there has been (a) one secondment from a major utility company, (b) none from Energy UK and (c) none from other related energy utility organisations.

Social Security Benefits

Laura Sandys: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much Government spending on welfare increased in (a) cash terms, (b) real terms and (c) as a proportion of gross domestic product between 1997-98 and 2010-11.

Sajid Javid: Public sector net social benefits increased by (a) 86% from £106 billion to £197 billion in cash terms, (b) 40% from £144 billion to £201 billion in real terms (2011-12 prices), and (c) ¾ppt from 12½% of GDP to 13¼% between 1997-98 and 2010-11.

Tax Avoidance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent steps he has taken to minimise tax avoidance by multinational corporations and companies.

David Gauke: The Government announced on 3 December 2012 further investment of £77 million in HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to expand their anti-avoidance and evasion activity specifically focusing on offshore evasion and avoidance by wealthy individuals and by multinationals. This is expected to bring in an additional £2 billion per year in tax that would have otherwise gone unpaid. As part of this investment, HMRC will expand its risk assessment capability across the large business sector and increase its specialist transfer pricing resources to speed up its work to identify and challenge multinationals’ transfer pricing arrangements.
	The UK, French and German Governments have jointly written to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development offering voluntary contributions equivalent to €150,000 each in order to support rapid progress on its work to tackle profit shifting and the erosion of the corporate tax base at the global level.
	This pledge of resources follows on from the Chancellor's call, together with Wolfgang Schauble, at the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers on 4 to 5 November 2012 in Mexico for concerted international cooperation to strengthen international standards for corporate tax regimes.

Tax Avoidance

Michael Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many schemes to minimise payment of corporation tax have been challenged by HM Revenue and Customs in court or at a tribunal since 2004.

David Gauke: holding answer 13 December 2012
	From 2004 to 2012 there were over 650 decisions in UK tax cases in the Upper Tribunal (previously High Court) and above covering both avoidance and non avoidance cases. About 100 of these cases arose from corporation tax disputes. Overall HMRC won about two thirds of these cases. The classification of a case as tax avoidance involves an element of interpretation that would require detailed scrutiny of individual judgments. This could only be undertaken at disproportionate cost for the full period requested. However, HMRC has undertaken some analysis for the period from 2010 to April 2012, during which time HMRC was successful in 51 out of 60 judgments in tax avoidance cases.

Taxation

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many additional members of staff of HM Revenue and Customs will work on tackling tax avoidance and evasion as a result of the funding change announced in the autumn statement 2012.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 December 2012, Official Report, column 293W.

Unemployment

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in which 20 parliamentary constituencies there have been the largest increases in unemployment in the last 12 months; and what those increases were (a) in figures and (b) as a percentage.

Sajid Javid: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) provide unemployment statistics by constituency on an annual basis. Estimates of unemployment at the constituency level are not available for all constituencies. Where reported they are not very precise and can exaggerate changes, reflecting the small sample size for survey respondents.
	Comparing the year July 2010 to June 2001 to July 2011 to June 2012 the following 20 parliamentary constituencies saw the largest increases in unemployment (table 1). Changes as a percentage are provided in table 2.
	
		
			 Table 1: Unemployment (level) 
			  July 2010 to June 2011 July 2011 to Jun e  2012 Change over period 
			 Hendon 3,500 10,400 +6,900 
			 North East Cambridgeshire 2,000 7,500 +5,500 
			 Islington South and Finsbury 3,000 7,500 +4,500 
			 West Ham 5,400 9,700 +4,300 
			 Birmingham, Erdington 4,100 8,100 +4,000 
			 Ealing, Southall 4,200 8,200 +4,000 
			 Preston 3,500 7,300 +3,800 
			 Croydon Central 3,900 7,700 +3,800 
			 Leeds North East 3,700 7,400 +3,700 
			 Feltham and Heston 4,800 8,500 +3,700 
			 Sheffield South East 4,200 7,700 +3,500 
			 Bradford West 3,700 7,100 +3,400 
			 Manchester, Gorton 6,200 9,500 +3,300 
			 Bradford South 4,000 7,200 +3,200 
			 Brent Central 5,000 8,200 +3,200 
			 Manchester Central 5,800 8,900 +3,100 
			 Manchester, Withington 3,900 7,000 +3,100 
			 Shipley 3,000 6,100 +3,100 
		
	
	
		
			 Maidstone and The Weald 1,200 4,300 +3,100 
			 Bassetlaw 1,600 4,600 +3,000 
			 Source: ONS 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Unemployment (rate) 
			  July 2010 to June 2011 July 2011 to June 2012 Change over period 
			 North East Cambridgeshire 4.0 16.1 +12.1 
			 Birmingham, Erdington 10.2 21.4 +11.2 
			 Bradford West 9.0 18.2 +9.2 
			 Hendon 5.1 13.3 +8.2 
			 Doncaster North 13.5 20.5 +7.0 
			 Brent Central 10.3 17.1 +6.8 
			 Croydon Central 6.5 13.1 +6.6 
			 Islington South and Finsbury 6.1 12.6 +6.5 
			 Inverclyde 8.6 15.1 +6.5 
			 Preston 8.3 14.7 +6.4 
			 Airdrie and Shotts 7.5 13.8 +6.3 
			 South Derbyshire 2.3 8.6 +6.3 
			 Leeds North East 7.4 13.7 +6.3 
			 Hemel Hempstead 2.2 8.4 +6.2 
			 Kingswood 5.0 11.2 +6.2 
			 West Bromwich East 13.0 19.2 +6.2 
			 Ealing, Southall 9.1 15.1 +6.0 
			 Ealing North 7.4 13.4 +6.0 
			 East Hampshire 3.4 9.4 +6.0 
			 Sheffield South East 9.1 15.0 +5.9 
			 Source: ONS

VAT: Alarms

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give consideration to making carbon monoxide detectors exempt from VAT.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 December 2012, Official Report, column 330W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney).

Welfare Tax Credits

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken was between an application being made and benefit paid for (a) child benefit, (b) working tax credit and (c) child tax credit in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Sajid Javid: This information can be found in the HMRC publication ‘How are we Doing’ published November 2012 and available online at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/briefings/2012-13-half-yearly.pdf
	In the first five months of the current financial year, UK tax credits and child benefit claims and changes of circumstances were cleared in an average of 15.2 days.
	Over the same period, international claims and changes of circumstance were cleared in an average of 122.1 days.
	Data about tax credits are not broken down into working tax credit and child tax credit as both are made on the same claim form where appropriate.

Welfare Tax Credits

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the average length of time was for HM Revenue and Customs to administer a reconsideration of a decision to stop or adjust a claimant's tax credit entitlement following an undisclosed partner intervention in the latest year for which figures are available;
	(2)  if he will publish the guidance issued to HM Revenue and Customs compliance officers on undisclosed partner interventions and the evidence deemed acceptable to prove non-cohabitation;
	(3)  how many HM Revenue and Customs compliance officers are currently working on the undisclosed partner project.

Sajid Javid: Information on the average length of time for HM Revenue and Customs to administer a reconsideration of a decision to stop or adjust a claimant's tax credit entitlement following a Credit Reference Agency undeclared partner intervention is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The guidance issued to HMRC compliance officers on undeclared partner interventions is published at Chapter 15 of the Claimant Compliance Manual. This manual is available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ccmmanual/index.htm
	HMRC currently deploys around 227 full-time equivalent staff on the Credit Reference Agency undeclared partner intervention.

Welfare Tax Credits: Kingston upon Hull

Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) people, (b) working people and (c) families in Kingston upon Hull North constituency are in receipt of tax credits.

David Gauke: As at 1 April 2012, there were:
	(a) 18,100 adults,
	(b) 13,500 adults in families defined as 'in work' for tax credits purposes, and,
	(c) 12,000 families, in receipt of tax credits in the Kingston Upon Hull North constituency.

Welfare Tax Credits: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) people, (b) working people and (c) families in Haltemprice and Howden constituency are in receipt of tax credits.

Sajid Javid: The following table details the numbers requested. This is based on April 2012 data. These data are a snapshot and therefore the numbers presented as follows are accurate as of the time of extraction.
	
		
			  Number (000s) 
			 (a) People 9.3 
			 (b) Working People 7.2 
			 (c) Families 5.7 
		
	
	'People' in this instance is defined as adults in a household receiving tax credits. A working person is defined as anyone who is working non-zero hours.

Working Tax Credit

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people will experience a reduction in income as a result of working tax credit decisions announced in the Autumn Statement, with the increase in the personal tax allowance taken into account.

David Gauke: The Department for Work and Pensions will publish an Impact Assessment of autumn statement of 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-882, benefit and tax credit uprating measures in January.

Working Tax Credit

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have been refused the disability element of working tax credit on the grounds that myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is an ineligible criterion in each of the last five years; and if he will make it his policy to extend the disability element of working tax credit to people with ME.

Sajid Javid: HMRC does not hold data on the number of people with ME who have been refused the disability element of working tax credit. The 'disadvantage test' used for assessing eligibility to the disability element consists of 21 functional disabilities connected with, for example, seeing, hearing, getting around, using hands, mental disabilities, exhaustion and pain and a claimant needs only one of them to pass the test. The disadvantage test does not exclude any particular diagnostic group of disabled people. To include reference to specific conditions would be impractical as people living with the same illness may not suffer the same functional disabilities.
	There are no plans to change the eligibility conditions for the disability element of working tax credits.

Working Tax Credit

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the income of households in (a) Coventry, (b) Coventry North East constituency, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England as a result of the increase in the number of hours of work required for eligibility for working tax credit as instituted in April 2012.

Sajid Javid: No estimate has been made.
	The measure to restrict eligibility to working tax credit for couples with children to those working for at least 24 hours per week is part of a range of reforms to the tax credits system announced at the 2010 spending review.
	Estimating the effect on families of an individual measure does not give a clear indication of the full monetary impact of the package of reforms on an individual household.
	The Government published estimates of the distributional impact of the packages of announced tax and benefit measures, which can be found at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/junebudget_annexa.pdf
	http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_annexb.pdf

Working Tax Credit

Pat Glass: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in (a) England, (b) the north-east, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency receive working tax credit; and what the average weekly payment is in each case.

Sajid Javid: HMRC publish tax credit statistics based on finalised awards every year; the latest of which is the HMRC publication ‘Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics: Finalised Annual awards 2010-11 Geographical Analysis’. This publication can be accessed from:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/fin-geog-stats.htm#2
	Details on the number of families benefitting from working tax credit (WTC) can be found in Table 2 (England, North East and County Durham) and Table 3 (North West Durham). The requested statistics have been reproduced in the following table for convenience.
	
		
			  Receiving WTC and CTC (1) (thousand) In-work families receiving CTC (1)  only (thousand) Receiving WTC only (thousand) Average weekly payment (£) 
			 England 1,636.9 1,946.5 434.4 83.4 
			 North East 90.6 100.5 32.6 81.3 
			 County Durham UA 17.7 21.5 6.3 78.1 
			 North West Durham 3.1 4.1 1.2 75.9 
			 1 CTC- Child Tax Credit 
		
	
	WTC only families are those families without children and will definitely be in receipt of WTC. However, those benefitting from WTC and CTC will benefit from WTC through a higher entitlement although they may not actually receive it, as this part of their award is tapered away first.
	The figure for average weekly payment is the average payment across all in-work families in the respective regions, not just those receiving WTC.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Access to Work Programme

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding was allocated for the Access to Work programme in 2011-12.

Mark Hoban: The total funding available for the programme in the 2011-12 operational year was £105 million to assist disabled people to overcome barriers in the workplace in a variety of practical ways.

Children: Maintenance

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the report by the National Audit Office, Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission Client Funds Account 2011-12, published on 5 November 2012, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to allow the writing off of historical child maintenance arrears.

Steve Webb: On the 10 December 2012 we introduced legislation that will allow us to write off arrears, including historical arrears, in certain circumstances. This was provided for through the Child Support Management of Payments and Arrears (Amendment) Regulations 2012.

Children: Maintenance

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the report by the National Audit Office, Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission Client Funds Account 2011-12, published on 5 November 2012, what steps he plans to take to reduce the level of errors in maintenance assessments.

Steve Webb: The Child Support Agency has made significant improvements in reducing the level of errors made in maintenance assessments. At the end of September 2012, rolling 12 month performance on accuracy showed that for every £1.00 of a maintenance calculated, 98.4p was accurate, an increase of 0.3p on September 2011. Further improvements are expected to be achieved this year by focusing on child maintenance procedures and driving up the quality of case notes.
	The new IT system and 2012 statutory scheme, introduced on 10 December, have been designed to deliver further improvements in accuracy. Payments will usually be based on the non-resident parent's latest tax-year gross income, sourced directly from HM Revenue and Customs. For the first time, maintenance assessments will be reviewed annually to ensure they remain fair, accurate and up-to-date. This will also help avoid huge backdated arrears demands which can build up when parents need to be reassessed.

Children: Maintenance

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the recent report by the National Audit Office, Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission Client Funds Account 2011-12, published on 5 November 2012, what is (a) the largest amount of child maintenance arrears currently outstanding and (b) the longest period of time for which child maintenance arrears have been outstanding without any payments being made.

Steve Webb: The CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics (QSS) provides information on outstanding maintenance arrears. This includes the arrears distribution, which provides the proportion of cases with arrears, and the value of arrears by size of arrears outstanding on each case. At September 2012, 0.4% of the arrears caseload has outstanding arrears greater than £50,000. This information is available on page 29 of the September 2012 QSS at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/2012/csa_qtr_summ_stats_sep2012.pdf
	We are not able to release more detailed information because doing so could make the families concerned identifiable.
	Retrieving the information necessary to answer part (b) of the question would involve manually checking the records of each individual case, and therefore exceed the appropriate cost limit.

Employment and Support Allowance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2012, Official Report, column 487W, on employment and support allowance, following the introduction of mandatory reassessments, what financial assistance will be available to claimants who have been found fit to work while their reconsideration is pending.

Mark Hoban: The financial assistance available is dependent on individual circumstances of the claimant. However, claimants who are disallowed employment and support allowance (ESA) are able to claim other benefits for example, jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Employment and Support Allowance

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average period is in each region of the UK between an initial application for employment and support allowance and the determination of an appeal against refusal in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mark Hoban: The following table shows the total duration between the claim start date until the appeal result date. This is for employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants found fit for work following the initial work capability assessment where an appeal has been heard. The table covers ESA claims starting between June and August 2011 (the latest information available) and is broken down by region. The statistics are likely to alter over time due to outstanding appeals for ESA claims made in this period. Appeals against incapacity reassessment outcomes are not included.
	
		
			 Duration between claims start date and appeal result date, Great Britain and its regions 
			 Region Duration in weeks 
			 East Midlands 39 
			 Eastern 43 
			 London 47 
			 North East 42 
			 North West 46 
			 Scotland 41 
			 South East 45 
			 South West 47 
			 Wales 46 
			 West Midlands 44 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 44 
			 Great Britain 44 
			 Source: Department for Work and Pensions benefit administration datasets and HM Courts and Tribunal Service appeals case load data.

Employment and Support Allowance

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of appeals against decisions on the provision of employment and support allowance in each region of the UK have led to a change in the initial decision in the latest year for which figures are available.

Mark Hoban: The following table shows the proportion of successful appeals (initial decision overturned) heard on fit for work decisions following the initial work capability assessment by region. The table covers employment and support allowance claims starting between September 2010 and August 2011 (the latest information available). The statistics are likely to alter over time due to outstanding appeals for ESA claims made in this period. Appeals against incapacity reassessment outcomes are not included.
	
		
			 Successful appeals heard on fit for work decisions in initial functional assessment, Great Britain and its regions 
			 Region Initial decision overturned (percentage) 
			 East Midlands 29 
			 Eastern 32 
			 London 40 
			 North East 36 
			 North West 27 
			 Scotland 37 
			 South East 42 
			 South West 40 
			 Wales 37 
			 West Midlands 27 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 29 
			 Great Britain 34 
			 Source: Department for Work and Pensions benefit administration datasets and HM Courts and Tribunal Service appeals case load data.

Food Banks

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the name and location is of each food bank that he or Ministers of his Department have visited since May 2010; and what the date was of each visit.

Mark Hoban: Since May 2010, there have been no recorded visits to a food bank by Ministers of this Department.

Housing Benefit

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the welfare of families in social housing subject to the under-occupation penalty;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect on families of reducing the amount of benefit that people can claim if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home.

Steve Webb: In June 2012, the Department published an Equality Impact Assessment of introducing restrictions to housing benefit for working age customers living in the social rented sector who are occupying a larger property than their household size requires.
	We are in the process of a procurement exercise with leading research organisations to commission independent monitoring and evaluation to explore the effects of the introduction of the restrictions in the social rented sector.
	This will include some primary research into the impacts of the changes, and is expected to be undertaken over a two-year period from April 2013 to March 2015.
	Initial findings are expected to be available in early 2014 with final reporting in late 2015. They will be made available to Parliament and published in accordance with the Department's publication protocols.

Housing Benefit: Edinburgh

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of households in (a) Edinburgh and (b) Edinburgh North and Leith constituency which will no longer receive housing benefit at the current rate as a result of new rules on under-occupancy in social housing;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of households in (a) Edinburgh and (b) Edinburgh North and Leith constituency which will be affected by new rules on under-occupancy in social housing.

Steve Webb: Impacts of the new rules on under-occupancy in social housing are not available at local authority or parliamentary constituency level.
	Impacts of the under-occupancy measure at a regional level can be found in the Impact Assessment:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-sector-housing-under-occupation-wr2011-ia.pdf

Housing Benefit: Greater London

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payments he has made to each London borough to assist tenants affected by the housing benefit cap from the time of its introduction to the latest date for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: The Government increased its contribution to discretionary housing payments (DHPs) by £130 million over the spending review period to help support tenants affected by the reforms to housing benefit, including the caps to local housing allowance rates. In 2011-12, the total Government contribution for DHPs for London authorities was £8,181,054—an increase of over 80% compared to 2010-11. In 2012-13 the contribution rose to £20,298,344.
	In addition to an increase in DHPs, a further £49 million transitional funding was made available over the spending review period for local authorities to provide targeted support for claimants affected by the housing benefit reforms. In 2011-12, this funding was allocated through a bidding process. The successful bids within London boroughs were Lambeth, Brent, the North London Housing Partnership (six local authorities led by Haringey) and the East London Housing Partnership (eight local authorities led by Barking and Dagenham). In total, these authorities were awarded transitional funding of £1,302,401 for 2011-12.
	For 2012-13, the Department allocated £5,944,716 in transitional funding to London authorities using a formula based on the anticipated losses in each area as a result of the reforms.

Housing Benefit: Islington

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many tenants in the London borough of Islington have been affected by the housing benefit cap since its introduction.

Steve Webb: The information is not available. The Department for Work and Pensions published an impact assessment in July 2010 which estimated the number of people affected by restricting local housing allowance to the four-bedroom rate and applying maximum weekly caps. This is available in Table 22 at the following web address:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/claims-processing/local-housing-allowance/impact-of-changes.shtml

Jobseeker's Allowance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what proportion of households on jobseeker's allowance did not contain children in each year for which data is available;
	(2)  what proportion of households on jobseeker's allowance had more than three children in each year for which data is available.

Mark Hoban: Information as requested is not available.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to answer the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton dated 17 October 2012 with regard to Mr N. Pletchy forwarded from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Mark Hoban: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), replied to the right hon. Member on 17 December 2012.

Natural Gas: Safety

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to prevent unqualified and unregistered gas engineers from undertaking work on gas appliances.

Mark Hoban: The Gas Safe Register undertakes an active inspection programme in excess of 40,000 inspections every year. Between April 2010 and April 2012 2,247 investigations were carried out into allegations of unregistered gas work.
	It is a legal requirement that installation and maintenance of gas appliances should only be undertaken by a suitably qualified and Gas Safe registered engineer. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regularly takes enforcement and prosecution action against unregistered gas fitters, and publicises these cases.
	HSE and Gas Safe Register are active in raising public awareness of gas safety risks. This includes promotion of the key safety message that consumers should use only a Gas Safe registered engineer for all gas work in their home. Recent research by the Gas Safe Register has shown that 83% of consumers are aware of gas safety risks and the Gas Safe Register.

Pension Credit

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency receive pension credit; and what the average weekly payment is in each case.

Steve Webb: Statistics on pension credit are available from 100% data and are published on the Department's website at:
	http://83.244.183.180/100pc/pc/tabtool_pc.html
	Guidance for users is available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which recruitment consultants his Department used to select candidates for public appointments within his departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007.

Mark Hoban: The decision to use recruitment consultants to administer recruitment exercises for public appointees is decided on a case-by-case basis.
	Complete information is not available going back to 2007. Information that is available is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Recruitment consultants Fees paid (£) (1) 
			 2007-08 Veredus 29,300 
			  Odgers Berndtson 70,500 
			  Egon Zehnder International 90,000 
			    
			 2008-09 Capita 19,076 
			    
			 2009-10 Veredus 20,013 
			  Odgers Berndtson 89,500 
			  Egon Zehnder International 40,000 
			  Hays 289,201 
			    
			 2010-11 Veredus 56,591 
			  Hays 47,467 
			    
			 2011-12 Veredus 54,000 
			  Hays 33,179 
			 (1) These figures may include associated costs for example advertising in the press.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many public appointments (a) regulated by and (b) not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have been made by his Department since 2007; and in how many such cases the services of recruitment consultants were retained.

Mark Hoban: For the period from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2012, this Department has made (a) 58 public appointments regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) and (b) 20 public appointments not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
	Of the 58 OCPA-regulated appointments, 33 appointments were from exercises which involved the use of recruitment consultants. For the non-OCPA appointments, 16 of the 20 appointments made involved the use of recruitment consultants.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department last assessed the (a) utility and (b) value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards.

Mark Hoban: Psychometric testing is not used routinely by this Department for public appointments to advisory bodies. It has been used on only one occasion in recent years and, consequently, there has been no formal assessment of the utility and value of such testing.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's policy is on the payment of travel expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment.

Mark Hoban: This Department pays reasonable travelling expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment. Payments are made in line with the Department's Concessionary Travel Policy which would apply to a DWP employee travelling in similar circumstances.

Remploy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish a comprehensive breakdown of the sale of (a) contracts, (b) buildings, (c) plant, (d) machinery, (e) equipment and (f) other Remploy assets.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not held by the Department, and the hon. Member is advised that he should request this information from Remploy's Company Secretary. They can be contacted at:
	company.secretariat@Remploy.co.uk

Remploy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Remploy managers have been sold or given any of Remploy's (a) buildings, (b) plant, (c) machinery and (d) contracts or other assets; and if they have rented buildings.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not held by the Department, and the hon. Member is advised that he should request this information from Remploy's company secretary. They can be contacted at:
	company.secretariat@Remploy.co.uk

Remploy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reasons those Remploy factory sites that were earmarked for sale have not been sold.

Esther McVey: All stage one businesses were put up for sale. We also provided funding to support employee led bids. For some businesses, no interest was received, reflecting the commercial standing and nature of the businesses. I understand from Remploy that in some instances where initial interest was received from bidders, no final offers were submitted by bidders. In some instances bids were rejected because they did not meet published criteria, including on retaining the employment of disabled employees, sustainability of employment or value for money and in some cases bidders withdrew from the process.

Remploy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will establish an inquiry into the process of closing Remploy and reports of corruption in the sale of some Remploy sites.

Esther McVey: The current commercial process for Remploy is a matter for the Remploy Board and as such any requests for an investigation into this process should be raised directly with Remploy's Company Secretary. They can be contacted at
	company.secretariat@Remploy.co.uk
	I am satisfied that Remploy has conducted its commercial process in a way that has been transparent and fair to all organisations that submitted business plans, or wanted to submit business plans. If the hon. Member has evidence to the contrary, he should present this to the Remploy Board.

Social Security Benefits

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken was between an application being made and benefit paid for (a) attendance allowance, (b) bereavement benefits, (c) carer's allowance, (d) disability living allowance, (e) employment and support allowance, (f) jobseeker's allowance, (g) maternity benefits, (h) housing benefit, (i) council tax benefit and (j) pension credit in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mark Hoban: The information regarding when a benefit is paid is not available as this will vary from claim to claim depending on circumstances, payment type and frequency of payment.
	Housing benefit and council tax benefit are administered by local authorities and not the DWP. Processing statistics for these benefits can be found at:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/sop/index.php?page=sop
	The data that are available is the Average Actual Clearance Time (AACT) which is the average time taken between an application being made and the date the customer was notified of the decision on their claim.
	Please see the most recent AACT data in the following table.
	
		
			 Benefit 2012-13 (November 2012) 
			 Attendance Allowance (AA) 15.1 days 
			 Bereavement Benefits (BB) 22.0 days 
			 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 28.4 days 
			 Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) 10.6 days 
			 Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) 10.0 days 
			 Maternity Allowance (MA) 9.1 days 
			 Pension Credit (PC) 10.9 days 
		
	
	Please note this data has not been fully quality-assured. This internal management information does not form part of the regular official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice.

Social Security Benefits: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have been refused (a) disability living allowance and (b) disability premium for housing benefit on the grounds that myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is an ineligible criterion in each of the last five years; and if he will make it his policy to extend those allowances to people with ME.

Esther McVey: Entitlement to disability living allowance (DLA) is not based on having a specific health condition, but depends on what help the person needs with personal care as a result of their disability, and/or the extent of their mobility difficulties. No one, therefore, has been refused DLA on the grounds that myalgic encephalomyelitis is an ineligible criterion. Anyone who meets the eligibility criteria will be awarded DLA.
	Disability premium is payable in housing benefit and council tax if the claimant is receiving a qualifying benefit or is registered blind or satisfies the incapacity for work condition. A person cannot qualify for a disability premium for housing benefit or council tax benefit on any grounds if the claimant has, or is treated as having, limited capability for work or has reached the qualifying age for pension credit and neither the claimant nor partner is getting income support, income-based JSA or income-related ESA.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recorded cases of benefit fraud there were by (a) European and (b) non-European immigrants in each of the last five years.

Mark Hoban: The requested information is not available.

Trade Unions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many times and when he has met trades union consortium officers.

Esther McVey: I have had contact with representatives from the Remploy trade unions in face to face meetings, stakeholder events and through correspondence. I have listened and responded to their views and opinions on the progress of the Stage 1 process, as I have done with other stakeholders.

Unemployment: Hartlepool

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the level of unemployment in Hartlepool constituency in recent months; and what steps he will take to reduce the number of unemployed people in Hartlepool constituency.

Mark Hoban: Over the past year the number of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants has fallen in two thirds of constituencies. In Hartlepool this is not the case, as the number has risen 460 in the year to November 2012, to 4,728. The change over this period is affected by the fact that people entering the Work programme continue to receive JSA and remain on the claimant count until they find regular work, whereas under previous programmes they were removed from the figures and recorded separately on training allowances. Wider welfare reforms, such as reassessment of incapacity benefit claims, changes to eligibility for lone parent benefits and equalisation of state pension age, are also adding to the number on JSA.
	The Department is aware of the challenges facing jobseekers in the labour market, particularly in places like Hartlepool where the proportion of the population on JSA, having nearly doubled between 2007 and 2009, is well above the national average. A substantial body of support has been put in place to help people move into work. Jobcentre Plus currently offers claimants a comprehensive menu of help including skills provision and job search support. This is bolstered by a number of Get Britain Working measures including: work experience placements, Work Clubs and support for those looking to start their own business known as the new enterprise allowance.
	The Work programme provides tailored support to those claimants furthest from the labour market. Claimants with more challenging barriers to work can be referred early. Providers are paid on the results they achieve, and are paid more for supporting the hardest to help into sustained work.
	The Youth Contract, launched on 2 April, will provide nearly half a million new opportunities for young people including: wage incentives for employers taking on a claimant from the Work programme; incentives to take on apprentices; and extra work experience placements.
	Extra funding is being made available to support the most vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training, into learning, an apprenticeship or a job with training.
	From late July 2012, in 20 local authority areas designated as ‘youth unemployment Hotspots’ including Hartlepool, wage incentives were also made available via Jobcentre Plus to employ 18 to 24-year-olds that have been claiming for six months and were not yet attached to the Work programme. From December 17 this approach was extended nationally so that all 18 to 24-year-olds who have been claiming for six months have access.
	In order to maintain additional provision in the ‘hotspots’, additional Jobcentre Plus support will be made available for young people at the start of their claim in these areas from January 2013.

Universal Credit

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the nationality of existing benefits claimants are to be captured when their records are migrated to universal credit.

Mark Hoban: With the introduction of universal credit from October 2013, the Government are considering ways to record nationality, immigration status and residency at source. This will also apply to those claimants already in receipt of other benefits as they migrate to universal credit.

Universal Credit: Wales

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with Welsh Government Ministers on how passported benefits will be provided under universal credit; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Lord Freud wrote to Leighton Andrews, AC/AM Minister for Education and Skills, Welsh Government on 4 December 2012 about the operation of passported benefits in universal credit, providing information and options for delivery of their passported benefits during implementation and asking for confirmation of their preference.

Winter Fuel Payments: British Nationals Abroad

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people whose last UK address was in Preston constituency are now receiving winter fuel allowance whilst living abroad.

Steve Webb: The information is not available.
	In 2011-12 74,685 winter fuel payments were made to eligible customers living in EEA countries and Switzerland.

Work Capability Assessment: Hampshire

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 10 December 2012, Official Report, columns 41-2W, on Atos Healthcare, how many Atos staff conducting work capability assessments in (a) Hampshire, (b) Portsmouth and (c) Southampton are not doctors, nurses or physiotherapists.

Mark Hoban: None—all Atos Healthcare Professionals conducting work capability assessments in (a) Hampshire, (b) Portsmouth and (c) Southampton are either doctors, nurses or physiotherapists.

Work Capability Assessment: Hampshire

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) physiotherapists in the Southampton and Portsmouth work capability assessment centres obtained their primary clinical qualification at an institution outside the UK.

Mark Hoban: There are a number of healthcare professionals (HCPs) who carry out assessments at Portsmouth and Southampton Medical Assessment Centres and they have the right for their personal information to be dealt with appropriately.
	In addition, it may be that HCPs from outside the area carry out assessments at Portsmouth and Southampton, depending on volumes of referrals to these assessment centres. We are not able to supply any information relating to the professional standing or qualifications of HCPs in the Portsmouth and Southampton assessment centres, as this constitutes each HCPs personal data.
	All healthcare professionals are registered with a professional body such as the General Medical Council or the Nursing and Midwifery Council and must have at least three years post-qualification experience. In addition, all healthcare professionals are fully trained in disability assessment. They receive comprehensive training before being approved by DWP chief medical adviser.

Work Programme

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding his Department has provided to Work programme providers in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) County Durham and (d) North West Durham constituency since the inception of that programme.

Mark Hoban: The total paid to Work programme providers in the UK is £337.9 million from the start of the programme through to 30 July 2012, i.e. the period covered by the Statistical Release. Due to commercial in confidence considerations we are not able to release financial data below the national level at this time.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made an assessment of the recommendation published on 29 November 2012 by the London Voluntary Service Council that the design of the Work programme should be modified so that it provides better support for harder-to-help customers, a greater role for specialist voluntary and community sector organisations and greater transparency.

Mark Hoban: We are working to build understanding and expertise among Work programme providers, in particular with regards to dealing with harder to help claimants.
	We also have the Merlin Standard in place to ensure good working relationships between providers and all their subcontractors. It is a requirement for prime providers to be accredited, and we have asked Michael O’Toole, the Crown Representative for the Voluntary and Community and Social Enterprise Sector, to join the Merlin Advisory Board.
	With regards to transparency, we are committed to offering a transparent view of performance across all our contracted employment provision. A strategy covering the release of all statistics on employment programme support can be found via this link:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/work_programme/release_strategy.pdf?x=1

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the finding of the London Voluntary Service Council (VSC) published on 29 November 2012, that most VSC specialists are yet to have a single customer referred to them for support from their prime contractors, what assessment he has made of the level of involvement of voluntary sector organisations in the Work programme; and whether he plans any change of policy towards such involvement.

Mark Hoban: Up to October 2012, 20.5% of Work programme referrals were made to voluntary and community sector organisations (VCO). This figure includes referrals to VCOs acting as subcontractors to prime providers (tier one supply chain), but does not include those VCOs which are not acting as sub-contractors, but who deliver services for which payment is made on an ad hoc basis (tier two supply chain).
	We have already taken a number of steps to increase volumes of referrals to specialist subcontractors who support the hardest to help. For example, we have recently extended eligibility to the Work programme to ESA claimants who did not previously have to join. This means that more people will receive the support they need to get back to work through the Work programme, and there will be higher volumes of ESA referrals from prime providers to specialist subcontractors.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2012, Official Report, columns 426-27W, on departmental responsibilities, how his Department's Open Data Strategy is being applied to the Work programme; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: The Department is committed to offering a transparent view of performance across all its contracted employment provision. In support of this, the DWP's Open Data Strategy includes a series of commitments to publish detailed Work programme statistics.
	Official statistics on referrals and attachments to the Work programme were published for the first time on 21 February 2012 and outcome statistics on 27 November 2012.
	The Official Statistics on the Work programme can be viewed on the Work programme landing page at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=wp
	Also available on the Work programme landing page are:
	A background information note and a technical annex providing supplementary information on the processes involved in developing and releasing the statistics.
	The Department's business case key data measure indicator providing information on the proportion of customers for whom providers achieved a job outcome at 12 months on the programme.
	Analysis of the benefit status of Work programme participants.
	A strategy covering the release of all statistics on employment programme support which can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/work_programme/release_strategy.pdf?x=1

Work Programme: Durham

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in North West Durham constituency who were referred to the Work programme have secured a job as a result of that referral since the inception of that programme.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not available.
	Work Programme providers are not required to submit job start information until they claim a job outcome; only then are they requested to input a job start date which helps secure the job outcome payment. Therefore job starts lasting less than 13 or 26 weeks, dependent on the customer circumstances at the point of referral, will not be submitted.
	Statistics on how many people resident in North West Durham constituency who have secured job outcomes through the Work Programme to date can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	Guidance for users can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf

Work Programme: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have come off benefits after joining the Work programme in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency and (b) Yorkshire and Humber to date.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

JUSTICE

Alternatives to Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the 12 month reoffending rate in each pilot area as part of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots is for each (a) gender, (b) ethnic background and (c) religion;
	(2)  how many times the interventions were breached in each pilot area; and what the response to each breach as part of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots was;
	(3)  what the most common type of intervention used in each pilot area as part of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots was;
	(4)  what the current status of each of the seven Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots is;
	(5)  how many people in the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots (a) were first time offenders and (b) had committed offences in the past;
	(6)  what criteria was applied to deciding which offenders took part in each of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots;
	(7)  what the 12 month reoffending rate is in each pilot area for (a) first time offenders and (b) previous offenders as part of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots;
	(8)  what the cost per offender was of the seven Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilot areas;
	(9)  what the cost per offender of custody was in each of the seven Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilot areas;
	(10)  what funding was provided to each of the seven Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilot areas in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11 and (d) 2011-12;
	(11)  if he will publish details of the offences committed by each offender in each pilot area; and what proportion of offences each such type of offence represented as part of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots.

Jeremy Wright: On 12 July 2012 we published several process evaluations of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody pilots(1), results of the initial analysis on the impact of IAC on reoffending(2) and a short report with the main findings from the process evaluations, break even analysis and impact feasibility study(3).
	The impact analysis looked at the reoffending rates for offenders sentenced to the intensive alternative custody order. The reoffending rates were not broken down by gender, ethnic background or religion. The overall 12-month proven reoffending rate for the 2009 cohort of offenders was 54.9%. We are in the process of analysing reoffending data for the 2010 cohort of offenders.
	As of 8 March 2011, the compliance rate across all pilot sites was 56%. Data on each breach and the outcome across each pilot site are not available. The following table shows the proportion of IAC orders that were revoked for breach, across the pilot sites. Across all pilot sites, 70% of offenders who had their order revoked were sentenced to custody.
	
		
			 Pilot area Number of IACs Number revoked Percentage 
			 Derbyshire 274 134 49 
			 Dyfed-Powys 111 59 53 
			 Humberside 276 100 36 
			 Manchester and Salford 322 91 28 
			 Merseyside 203 46 23 
			 South Wales 186 75 40 
			 West Yorkshire 478 107 22 
			 Total 1,851 612 33 
		
	
	Supervision was the most common requirement for all pilot sites, except West Yorkshire where Specified Activity was the most common intervention. Further detail as to the use of each intervention across pilot sites is published in the summary evaluation.
	The Ministry of Justice no longer provides funding for the IAC pilots. However, as they were considered successful by local areas and were popular with courts and other criminal justice stakeholders, all are continuing unfunded and most have expanded their remit. All the schemes are now part of local Integrated Offender Management schemes and have drawn in resources from other agencies, the private and voluntary sector. This approach has reduced duplication of effort and maximises benefits realised through the contributions of partner agencies, thereby improving the efficiency of service delivery.
	For the offenders matched to the PNC in Dyfed-Powys, Humberside, Merseyside, South Wales and West Yorkshire, initial figures suggest that 755 offenders out of a total of 756 had previous convictions. All offenders in Manchester and Salford had previous convictions. These data are not available for Derbyshire.
	Each of the pilot sites applied slightly different selection criteria.
	Derbyshire adopted a broadly inclusive approach to eligibility and suitability, which was not dependent on age, gender, need or risk.
	Dyfed-Powys focused on offenders with a history of non-compliance to community supervision, or where periods of custody had had limited or no impact in the past. Female offenders were accepted onto the programme.
	Humberside adopted a broadly inclusive approach to eligibility and suitability, which was not dependent on age, gender, need or risk. High-risk offenders (Tier 3,4 and Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) cases) were accepted onto the programme, and there were a large number of Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP) cases.
	Manchester and Salford targeted young men aged 18 to 25 years.
	Merseyside at the outset, primarily targeted young (18 to 30), male, relatively low-risk persistent offenders, who were likely to have had previous experience of custodial and/or community sentences and a poor history of compliance. As the project developed during the first year, the IAC caseload also included older offenders and women.
	South Wales initially targeted offenders whose offences involved excessive use of alcohol. As the project progressed through its first year, it included offenders that committed violent offences (mainly common assault and actual bodily harm), persistent shoplifters, and a small but significant number of female offenders.
	West Yorkshire targeted offenders who demonstrated a range of crime-related needs that required the imposition of an intensive period of supervision.
	Reoffending data were not collected separately for first-time and previous offenders. The overall 12-month proven reoffending rate for the 2009 cohort of offenders was 54.9%. All but one of the offenders in the sample had previous convictions.
	The estimated weighted average cost of an IAC order per offender was around £5,000 a year, taking into account set-up costs, running costs and the cost of interventions. The cost varied across pilot areas from around £4,000 to nearly £7,000 due to the different range of interventions delivered to offenders and the different contracts set up with partner organisations.
	The average cost of custody nationally is £40,000 per year per prisoner, which includes NOMS overhead costs.
	The funding differed across the pilot sites due to differences in the original bids and pilot designs. At the end of 2010, Merseyside had been provided with £841,000 of funding, South Wales £613,500, West Yorkshire £1,247,000, Dyfed Powys £486,817 and Humberside £1,210,000. Data are not available for Derbyshire or Manchester and Salford. The funding data are not split by year.
	The process evaluations for Dyfed-Powys, Humberside, Merseyside, South Wales and West Yorkshire, and Manchester and Salford collected data on the categories of offences committed by the offenders in each pilot area. These data are not available for Derbyshire.
	(1) ( )http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/research-and-analysis/moj/process-evaluations-on-intensive-alternatives-to-custody
	(2) ( )http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/research-and-analysis/moj/initial-analysis-of-the-impact-of-the-intensive-alternatives-to-custody-pilots-on-re-offending-rates
	(3) ( )http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/research-and-analysis/moj-research/intensive-alt-custody-research-summary.pdf

Bail

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have failed to comply with bail conditions whilst on (a) police bail and (b) court bail in each of the last two years.

Jeremy Wright: Information on bail and remand collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database does not record whether conditions were attached to bail, the nature of them, nor whether those conditions were breached.

Civil Law

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will consider the merits of producing an impact assessment of the cumulative effects on the civil justice system of the provision of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and the reforms of litigation costs proposed by Lord Justice Jackson, the introduction of Alternative Business Structures, the proposed increase in the small claims limit, the proposed medical panels for whiplash cases and the proposed changes to the Road Traffic Accident portal; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The Government has already published impact assessments on the Jackson reforms to civil litigation costs which are contained in Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; the proposed increase in the small claims limit for road traffic accident related personal injury claims; and the proposed medical panels for whiplash cases. These impact assessments are available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/consultations
	An impact assessment for the commencement of the alternative business regime was also published and is available at:
	www.legislation.gov.uk
	Prior to implementation of the extended Road Traffic Accident personal injury scheme, the Government will undertake an impact assessment of the potential effects on affected groups of introducing fixed recoverable costs in personal injury claims. This will also be published on the Ministry of Justice website and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Community Orders

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of people on community orders who travelled abroad during the duration of their order in the latest year for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice does not collect data on the number of offenders on community orders who travel abroad during the duration of their order. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 created a new requirement which may be imposed as part of a community order or suspended sentence order to prohibit offenders from travelling outside the United Kingdom. This came into force on 3 December 2012.

Community Orders

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders given a community sentence for rape in 2011 were aged (a) under 18, (b) between 18 and 21 and (c) over 21 years.

Jeremy Wright: The number of offenders given a community sentence for rape in 2011, provided by requested age groups, can be viewed in Table 1.
	The number of offenders given a community sentence for grievous bodily harm in 2011, provided by requested age groups, can be viewed in Table 2.
	
		
			 Table 1: Defendants sentenced by community sentences, with community sentences breakdown, for rape offences by age in England and Wales 2011 (1,2) 
			 Age Community Rehabilitation Order Supervision Order Community Punishment Order Attendance Centre Order Community Punishment Order and Rehabilitation Order Curfew Order Reparation Order 
			 10 to 17 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 
			 18 to 21 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Over 21 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 All ages 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Age Action Plan Order Drug Treatment and Test Order Referral Order Community Order Youth Rehabilitation Order Total Community sentences 
			 10 to 17 0 0 10 0 16 30 
			 18 to 21 0 0 0 1 0 2 
			 Over 21 0 0 0 5 0 6 
			 All ages 0 0 10 6 16 38 
			 (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Defendants sentenced by community sentences, with community sentences breakdown, for grievous bodily harm by age in England and Wales 2011 (1,2,3) 
			 Age Community Rehabilitation Order Supervision Order Community Punishment Order Attendance Centre Order Community Punishment Order and Rehabilitation Order Curfew Order Reparation Order 
			 10 to 17 2 3 0 0 0 5 0 
			 18 to 21 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 
			 Over 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 All ages 2 3 0 0 0 7 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Age Action Plan Order Drug Treatment and Test Order Referral Order Community Order Youth Rehabilitation Order Total Community sentences 
			 10 to 17 0 0 137 0 122 269 
			 18 to 21 0 0 0 119 0 121 
			 Over 21 0 0 0 220 0 220 
		
	
	
		
			 All ages 0 0 137 339 122 610 
			 (1) Includes offences of wounding or inflicting bodily harm (including racially aggravated) and malicious wounding or grievous bodily harm (including racially and/or religiously aggravated). (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Community Punishment Orders

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the annual rate of change in reoffending rates of people under intensive community punishment orders.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) published its response to ‘Punishment and reform: effective community sentences’ on 23 October 2012 announcing the intention not to take forward the proposal in the consultation to introduce an intensive community punishment order.
	The MOJ has therefore not made any estimates of changes in re-offending rates for offenders subject to intensive community punishment orders. However, we have published research which examines the relative effectiveness of community order requirements at reducing re-offending, for offenders with similar characteristics.
	This research is published on the MOJ website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/publications/research-and-analysis/moj/effectiveness-community-order-requirements

Courts: Middlesbrough

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what consideration he has given to the merits of situating the East Middlesbrough Community Justice Court in East Middlesbrough.

Helen Grant: No consideration has been given to the merits of situating the East Middlesbrough Community Justice Court in East Middlesbrough as the Community Justice Initiative of which East Middlesbrough was part ended in 2009.
	At the end of the pilot East Middlesbrough cases were absorbed back into the general work of Teesside magistrates court.

Criminal Injuries Compensation: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what discussions he had with the Scottish Government before the decision to create a hardship fund for victims, following changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to allow victims of violent crime in Scotland who would previously have been able to access the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme access to the Hardship Fund.

Helen Grant: Whether to create a Hardship Fund for victims injured in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government. I understand that Scottish Ministers decided not to do so.
	Although separate from our shared interest in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, my officials held discussions with the Scottish Government regarding the implementation of the Hardship Fund.

Custodial Treatment: Death

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many people died in custody in the youth secure estate by (a) gender, (b) race and (c) religion in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many people who died in custody had been diagnosed with mental health problems in the (a) youth secure estate and (b) adult secure estate in each of the last four years;
	(3)  how many people died in custody in the adult secure estate of each (a) gender, (b) race and (c) religion in each of the last four years; and what the cause of death was in each such case.

Jeremy Wright: The information is as follows:
	(1) The number of deaths by gender, ethnic group and religion for those aged 15 to 17, 18 to 20 and 21 and over for each of the last four years are provided in tables 1, 2 and 3 as follows. Central deaths in custody records do not specifically include those who die in the ‘youth secure estate’ or ‘adult estate’. However, we can provide information based on the offenders’ ages at the time of death. As the adult prison estate can be defined as either those aged 18 and above or those aged 21 and above we have included figures for 15 to 17, 18 to 20 and 21 and over.
	(2) Central deaths in custody records do not contain details of those who have been diagnosed with mental health problems and therefore this question cannot be answered. However, there is ongoing research on the self-inflicted deaths of prisoners in England and Wales which looks at a number of factors including the mental health of those who have died.
	(3) Table 4 shows aggregate numbers of deaths by apparent cause for young adults (aged 18 to 20 years) and adults (aged 21 years and over). The National Offender Management Service make a provisional classification of death based on apparent cause. It is the responsibility of coroners to determine the cause of death and figures may change following inquest. The amount of information that can be released before an inquest has been concluded is limited.
	
		
			 Table 1: Deaths in custody by gender and category 
			 Gender  2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Female Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 1 
			  21 and over 5 7 7 4 
			       
			 Male Under 18 0 0 0 1 
			  18-20 5 5 4 6 
			  21 and over 155 157 186 180 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Deaths in custody by ethnic group and category 
			 Ethnic group  2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Asian Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 1 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 12 6 11 8 
			       
			 Black Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 2 3 11 12 
			       
			 Mixed Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 1 0 0 
			  21 and over 3 3 2 4 
			       
			 Other Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 1 
			  21 and over 4 1 1 0 
			       
			 White Under 18 0 0 0 1 
			  18-20 4 4 4 6 
			  21 and over 139 149 168 160 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Deaths in custody by religious group and category 
			 Religious group  2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Anglican Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 2 0 1 0 
			  21 and over 53 42 46 54 
			       
			 Buddhist Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 3 6 2 6 
			       
			 Free Church Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			  21 and over 5 4 7 6 
			       
			 Hindu Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 1 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 2 1 — 2 
			       
			 Jewish Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 2 3 1 1 
			       
			 Muslim Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 10 8 7 11 
			       
			 No religion Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 1 1 2 
			  21 and over 32 32 35 52 
			       
			 Roman Catholic Under 18 0 0 0 1 
			  18-20 1 3 1 2 
			  21 and over 24 29 35 34 
			       
			 Sikh Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 2 0 1 0 
			       
			 Other Christian Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 3 
			  21 and over 6 2 10 12 
			       
			 Other religious group Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 1 0 4 2 
			       
			 Not recorded Under 18 0 0 0 0 
			  18-20 1 1 1 0 
			  21 and over 20 37 45 4 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Deaths in custody by apparent cause for young adults (aged 18 to 20 years) and adults (aged 21 and over) 
			 Deaths by cause  2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Natural causes 18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 98 105 125 121 
			       
			 Self-inflicted 18-20 5 5 4 7 
			  21 and over 56 56 54 49 
			       
			 Homicide 18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 3 0 1 2 
			       
			 Other 18-20 0 0 0 0 
			  21 and over 3 3 13 12

Immigration

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will estimate the additional cost of the delivery of those public services for which his Department is responsible arising from inward migration since 1997.

Helen Grant: The Department does not routinely produce estimates of this nature. To do so would require the Department to incur disproportionate cost.

Legal Profession

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of legal executives in England and Wales were male in each year from 1 April 1997 to 2012;
	(2)  what proportion of legal executives in England and Wales were (a) white British, (b) black Caribbean, (c) black African, (d) Pakistani, (e) Indian, (f) Bangladeshi and (g) of another ethnicity in each year from 1 April 1997 to 2012;
	(3)  what proportion of legal executives in England and Wales were (a) Christian, (b) Muslim, (c) Jewish, (d) Hindu, (e) Sikh, (f) of no faith and (g) of another faith in each year from 1 April 1997 to 2012.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the gender, ethnicity or religion of legal executives.

Offenders: Restraint Techniques

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when his Department's guidelines on the restraint of female offenders were last amended.

Jeremy Wright: Policy and guidance on the use of restraint in prison and young offender institutions is set out in Prison Service Order 1600 Use of Force, published in 2005. Material used to instruct staff on control and restraint techniques is set out in the NOMS Use of Force Training Manual, the last major revision of which was in July 2006. The techniques described in both documents apply equally to male and female prisoners apart from specific guidance relating to the restraint of pregnant women.
	Restraint techniques were revised in October 2010 with the withdrawal of the nose distraction technique across the whole NOMS estate and its replacement by the mandibular angle technique, which uses a pressure point behind the jaw. This followed concerns over the safety of the nose distraction technique as part of the system of restraint used for young people (those held in the under-18 estate).
	At a local level individual prison establishments are responsible for monitoring use of force in their establishment and may from time to time put out local guidance to reinforce training and national policy when particular issues are noted.
	A new system of restraint has been developed for use with young people and will be implemented in young offender institutions and secure training centres from 2013.
	Techniques of restraint have been developed specifically in order to instruct staff on the most effective and safe methods of using force. The techniques take account both of the safety of staff applying the techniques and that of the prisoner on whom the techniques are used. Safe and effective use of the techniques is reinforced during annual refresher training and through the monitoring systems in place at all prisons.

Offenders: Restraint Techniques

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions males in the youth justice system in England and Wales have been restrained in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: The table shows the number of incidents where males aged 10 to 17 years required restrictive physical intervention while being held in custody within the youth secure estate (secure children's homes, secure training centres or under-18 young offender institutions) in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. Comparable data for previous years is not centrally held.
	This data was published by the Ministry of Justice in January 2012 in the Youth Justice Statistics 2010-11 publication:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/youth-justice/statistics
	Data for 2011-12 will be published in January 2013.
	
		
			 Table 1: Total number of incidents of males (aged 10 to 17 years) requiring restrictive physical intervention in the under 18’s secure estate, 2008-09 to 2010-11 
			  Incidents 
			 2008-09 6,567 
			 2009-10 5,868 
			 2010-11 6,697

Official Hospitality

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on ministerial entertaining in the last six months; where each entertainment event was held; and what the name is of each person (a) who was invited and (b) who attended.

Jeremy Wright: I have interpreted this question to mean events hosted by Ministry of Justice Ministers. All expenditure, including that on hospitality, has to be incurred in accordance with the Treasury's guidance on Managing Public Money.
	Ministers have hosted three events since June 2012. The costs for these events and a list of invitees and attendees are as follows:
	The first was a dinner to discuss the start-up and growth of enterprising businesses in UK prisons.
	The Opening of the Legal Year is a major constitutional event, attended by the senior judiciary and distinguished overseas guests. The visits from those from overseas jurisdictions tie in with significant bilateral meetings with the Lord Chancellor, Senior Judges and Ministry of Justice officials. Costs for the Opening of the Legal Year have reduced significantly in recent years, and are now less than half what they were prior to 2010.
	The reception on the 31 October was an opportunity for the new ministerial team to discuss the work of the Department with key media stakeholders.

Personal Injury: Compensation

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the likely average reduction in motor insurance premiums as a result of implementation of the proposals set out in his Department's consultation on Reducing the number and costs of whiplash claims; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps he has taken to ensure that any savings for motor insurance providers attributable to the implementation of measures generated from reforms to the whiplash claims process will be passed to consumers; whether he has received any undertakings from such providers in this respect; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The Government has published an impact assessment on the proposals included in the “Reducing the number and costs of whiplash claims” consultation. This includes an assessment of the potential costs and savings to all affected stakeholders from the consultation proposals. The impact assessment is available to download from the Ministry of Justice website at:
	www.justice.gov.uk/consultations
	The level of any reduction in the cost of motor insurance premiums is a matter for the insurance industry. The Association of British Insurers have stated that insurers will pass on any savings to customers that result from unnecessary and excessive costs being removed from the system.

Young Offender Institutions

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many injuries have been sustained by young people following an incident of restraint, in each young offender institution and secure training centre in each month since January 2010; and how many of those injuries have been classified as minor or serious injuries.

Jeremy Wright: Table 1 shows the total number of injuries sustained by young people following an incident of restraint in each under 18 young offender institution (YOI) and secure training centre (STC) in each month from January 2010 to March 2011.
	Table 2 shows the number of minor injuries sustained by young people following an incident of restraint in each under 18 YOI and STC in each month from January 2010 to March 2011.
	Table 3 shows the number of serious injuries sustained by young people following an incident of restraint in each under 18 YOI and STC in each month from January 2010 to March 2011.
	These data were provided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB).
	Data for the period of April 2011 to March 2012 will be available when the 2011-12 Annual Youth Justice Statistics are published in January 2013. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.
	These data come from monthly returns from the youth secure estate to the YJB. Due to the way the data are collected, it is not possible to tell if the same young people are involved in multiple incidents throughout the time period.
	
		
			 Table 1: Injuries following a restraint 
			  2010 2011 
			  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 
			 Secure Training Centres                
			 Hassockfield 12 6 14 14 8 13 14 29 25 24 17 9 6 18 11 
			 Medway 9 8 14 6 7 4 3 7 5 6 6 14 8 13 22 
			 Oakhill 1 0 2 1 7 5 2 4 1 2 3 7 4 3 1 
			 Rainsbrook 8 3 4 3 7 10 9 9 5 6 5 3 2 4 5 
			 STC Total 30 17 34 24 29 32 28 49 36 38 31 33 20 38 39 
			                 
			 Young Offender Institution                
			 Ashfield 0 6 1 0 1 10 4 2 6 5 6 2 2 8 2 
			 Castington 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 — — — — — — — 
			 Cookham Wood 3 7 1 7 12 5 0 11 6 3 3 2 3 1 3 
		
	
	
		
			 Downview 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Eastwood Park 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 Feltham 9 4 4 8 5 7 1 1 1 3 1 3 9 5 12 
			 Feltham (Heron Unit)    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 
			 Foston Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 
			 Hindley 13 12 19 9 8 12 11 7 4 15 17 10 18 10 18 
			 Huntercombe 1 0 2 3 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — 
			 New Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Parc 6 5 7 6 7 0 4 4 8 6 4 0 1 3 6 
			 Stoke Heath 3 0 1 0 2 6 2 2 0 3 4 0 1 2 1 
			 Warren Hill 3 2 2 4 2 8 3 8 5 4 2 4 5 3 0 
			 Warren Hill (Carlford Unit) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Werrington 1 3 0 5 10 3 2 3 1 7 3 1 4 4 9 
			 Wetherby— Keppel Unit 1 5 5 0 2 1 1 2 3 1 1 0 2 1 3 
			 Wetherby 2 3 8 12 8 4 7 7 4 3 9 3 3 5 2 
			 YOI Total 42 50 52 54 60 57 35 48 38 50 50 26 49 43 56 
			 Total 72 67 86 78 89 89 63 97 74 88 81 59 69 81 95 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Minor injuries following a restraint 
			  2010 2011 
			  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 
			 Secure Training Centres                
			 Hassockfield 12 6 14 14 8 13 14 29 25 24 17 9 6 18 11 
			 Medway 9 8 14 6 7 4 3 7 5 6 6 14 8 13 22 
			 Oakhill 1 0 2 1 7 5 2 4 1 2 3 7 4 3 1 
			 Rainsbrook 8 3 4 3 7 10 9 9 5 6 5 3 2 4 5 
			 STC Total 30 17 34 24 29 32 28 49 36 38 31 33 20 38 39 
			                 
			 Young Offender Institutions                
			 Ashfield 0 6 1 0 1 10 4 2 6 5 6 2 2 8 2 
			 Castington 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Cookham Wood 3 6 1 4 12 5 0 11 6 3 3 2 3 1 3 
			 Downview 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Eastwood Park 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
			 Feltham 9 4 4 8 5 7 1 1 1 3 1 3 8 5 11 
			 Feltham (Heron Unit) — — — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 
			 Foston Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 
			 Hindley 13 12 19 9 8 12 11 7 4 15 17 10 18 10 18 
			 Huntercombe 1 0 2 3 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — 
			 New Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Parc 6 5 7 6 7 0 4 4 8 6 4 0 1 3 6 
			 Stoke Heath 3 0 1 0 2 6 2 2 0 3 4 0 1 2 1 
			 Warren Hill 3 2 2 3 2 8 3 7 5 3 2 4 5 3 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Warren Hill (Carlford Unit) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Werrington 1 3 0 5 10 3 2 3 1 7 3 1 4 4 8 
			 Wetherby— Keppel Unit 1 4 5 0 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 0 2 1 3 
			 Wetherby 2 3 8 12 8 4 7 7 4 3 9 3 3 5 2 
			 YOI Total 42 48 52 50 60 57 35 46 38 49 50 26 48 43 54 
			 Total 72 65 86 74 89 89 63 95 74 87 81 59 68 81 93 
		
	
	
		
			 Table  3 :  Serious  injuries following a restraint 
			  2010 2011 
			  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 
			 Secure Training Centres                
			 Hassockfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Medway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Oakhill 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Rainsbrook 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 STC Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			                 
			 Young Offender Institutions                
			 Ashfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Castington 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Cookham Wood 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Downview 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Eastwood Park 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Feltham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Feltham (Heron Unit) — — — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Foston Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — 
			 Hindley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Huntercombe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — — — — 
			 New Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Parc 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Stoke Heath 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Warren Hill 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Warren Hill (Carlford Unit) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Werrington 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Wetherby—Keppel Unit 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Wetherby 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 YOI Total 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 
			 Total 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 
			 Table 1 to 3 Notes: 1. The data presented in the answer should be treated with caution. In practice, it can be difficult to attribute an injury to the restraint itself or to the reason why the restraint was used. 2. These data come from monthly returns from the secure estate to the YJB. Because of the way the data are collected, it is not possible to tell if the same young people are involved in multiple incidents throughout the time period. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time. 3. Data from April 2011 is provisional. Finalised data for the period of April 2011 to March 2012 will be available when the 2011-12 Annual Youth Justice Statistics are published in January 2013. 4. Data for the Heron Unit in Keltham was collected from April 2010. 5. The following changes to the YOI estate occurred during this period: Castington YOI was decommissioned in August 2010. Foston Hall was decommissioned in January 2011. Huntercombe was decommissioned in August 2010.

Young Offender Institutions

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many adult offenders were held in the youth secure estate in 2011.

Jeremy Wright: On average 178 offenders aged 18 years or older were held in custody in the youth secure estate at any one time (secure children's homes, secure training centres or under-18 young offender institutions) during 2011.
	Currently, young people subject to a detention and training order who turn 18 while in custody remain within the under-18 estate to complete the custodial part of the sentence, if it is in their best interests. For example, if it allows for continuity of education, health care, and remaining in contact with their family and youth offending team. Young people who are serving long-term or indefinite sentences will be transferred from the under-18 estate by the time they reach 18 years and one month, providing they have more than one month remaining to serve.
	These data have been provided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and are based upon monthly snapshot data between January and December 2011. The YJB receives data on the number of young people aged 18 or over from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Although not published explicitly in the monthly Youth Custody data report on the Justice website, these data can be worked out from the subtraction of the under-18 population from the including 18s population figures:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/youth-justice/custody-data
	Figures for April 2011 onwards are provisional. Figures for the period 2011-12 will be finalised in the 2011-12 Youth Justice statistics in January 2013.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Bishops: Females

Helen Goodman: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what the legislative process is that would need to be followed by the Church of England to enable women to become bishops.

Tony Baldry: I have today placed a copy of an explanatory memorandum from the Secretary General of the General Synod in the Library of the House.